| Work Detail |
An international research team has built a cooling technology composed of heat-absorbing tubes thermally connected to the photovoltaic module, heat-releasing tubes that exchange heat with the mass of water, a series of connecting tubes and a coolant tank. The system creates a continuous flow of fluid that dissipates heat from the photovoltaic cells to the surroundings.
An international research group led by the University of Manchester has developed a passive cooling technique based on a natural convection cooling loop (NCCL) to reduce the operating temperature of floating photovoltaic systems.
In a recently published article, it is stated that the cooling technique consists of heat absorbing tubes thermally connected to the photovoltaic module, heat releasing tubes that exchange heat with the mass of water, a series of connecting tubes and a coolant tank. The system creates a continuous flow of fluid that dissipates heat from the photovoltaic cells to the surroundings.
The cooling loop device consists of 16 mm diameter connecting tubes, a 100 mm diameter fluid reservoir, and heat absorber and heat recovery tubes.
“The heat absorbing and releasing tubes are constructed of 14x14 mm square aluminum tubes with a thickness of 0.5 mm. “The cooling loop device connects the hot region at the top and the cold region at the bottom,” explains the article, noting that the heat absorber tubes receive thermal energy from the solar modules and heat the fluid inside the tube.
The cooling loop system also includes a reservoir at the top of the cooling loop, which creates buoyancy-driven flow. The heat releasing tubes are placed at the bottom and immersed in the constant temperature of the water.
Scientists conducted a series of tests of the proposed cooling technology in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, with solar irradiance in the region ranging from 227.2 W/m2 to 1153.2 W/m2.
“The actual temperature and electrical performance of the floating PV panel were measured through experiments varying the height of the reservoir,” the paper states. Natural convection cooling loops effectively improve the electrical efficiency of floating PV panels by reducing the temperature of the PV cells from 318.8 Kelvin to 315.3 Kelvin. “The electrical efficiency under a solar irradiance of approximately 1000 W/m2 increased by 17.84% with the introduction of a tank height of 750 mm.”
The group also conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of the novel technology and stated that it can substantially reduce the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and payback period of a floating PV system. “In the future, floating photovoltaic systems equipped with natural convection cooling loops could become multifunctional systems capable of generating electrical and thermal energy, thus optimizing overall energy efficiency,” the study concludes.
The cooling system was presented in the article “ Design and analysis of passively cooled floating photovoltaic systems,” published in Thermal Engineering . The research team consists of academics from the Israel Institute of Technology, Khalifa University in the UAE, Institut Teknologi Bandung and Universitas Sebelas Maret in Indonesia. |
