Performance Improvement Optimisation of a Photovoltaic System located at the Tropical Climate using Water-Film Cooling Method

International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Green Technology 2018

能源学;生态环境科学

Mah, Chia-Yi^1 ; Lim, Boon-Han^1 ; Wong, Chee-Woon^1 ; Tan, Ming-Hui^2 ; Chong, Kok-Keong^1 ; Lai, An-Chow^1

Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Bandar Sungai Long, Selangor, Kajang

43000, Malaysia^1

Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, Perak, Kampar

31900, Malaysia^2

关键词: Building integrated photovoltaic system;    Energy generations;    Net energy gains;    Panel temperature;    Photovoltaic systems;    Solar irradiation;    Temperature rise;    Tropical climates;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/268/1/012033/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1755-1315/268/1/012033

学科分类：环境科学（综合）

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

The temperature rise of solar panels can cause significant reduction in the energy generation especially for the countries located in tropical climate region. It is more effective to use water-film for cooling the front surface of solar panels, but the energy consumption of the water-cooled photovoltaic system (WCPV) needs to be reduced to obtain a higher net energy gain. In this study, a discrete water-supply water-cooling system (D-WCPV) has been proposed to reduce the energy consumption of the water pump and to improve the performance of a retrofit or building integrated photovoltaic system through reduction of the panel temperature. The discrete mechanism utilises a relay to switch on the power supply of the water pump whenever the temperature of the solar panel has reached the threshold of 45 °C. It is found that minimum flow rate for the D-WCPV is 8 L/min to form a full coverage of water on the surface of the solar panel for providing an uniform cooling effect and hence providing a better performance improvement. A comparison has also been made for the continuous water-supply water-cooling system (C-WCPV) and D-WCPV. D-WCPV has two advantages over C-WCPV as follows: 1) the energy consumption of the water pump operating at flow rate of 8 L/min has been reduced by 86.7% from 0.057 kWh/h to 0.0076 kWh/h and (2) the net energy gain (NEG) of the system at solar irradiation ranging from 806 Wh/m2 to 950 Wh/m2 has been increased by 80.2% from 5.5% to 10.0%.