Effect of Active Water Cooling on thePerformance of PV Module Using Steel Channels

Abstract

Pakistan, a country well-known for some of the highest sun-shine-hours/insolation in the world, yet facing many energy crises. In order to check the feasibility of solar energy harnessing, we come up for the first time with a simple cooling technique for solar panels in the climate of Sahiwal (one of the largest cities in Pakistan). The objective of current research is not only to justify the solar energy scope but also to support and promote its utilization to get-rid of fossil fuel dependence for household needs. One of the beauties of this research is the application of simple cooling channels that can be manufactured locally without any complexity. Data was recorded for the month of May 2018 using a polycrystalline PV panel. A reference panel was also investigated to compare the performance with the said cooling methodology. A series of experimentation showed a maximum temperature drop of 27.5°C, at an irradiance of 895 W/m², when compared with a reference PV panel. This resulted in 1.61 % increase in overall efficiency of the PV module, thus proving the proposed technique effective. The performance ratio increased as high as 12.85 %.