Experimental Study on Microcontroller-Based Monitoring of Photovoltaic Performance with Heatsink Cooling

Utilizing solar energy through photovoltaic technology can convert electrical energy cleanly. Energy produced from photovoltaic power plants requires performance monitoring and measurement. Performance measurements enable monitoring of degradation and increase in power output as part of power plant control and maintenance efforts. This research aims to monitor photovoltaic performance using microcontroller-based measurements. This study investigates the performance monitoring of photovoltaic (PV) systems using a microcontroller-based data acquisition system, focusing on the effect of temperature control with heatsink cooling. The microcontroller (Arduino-based) records real-time data on voltage, current, and temperature to evaluate energy conversion efficiency. The temperature impact was also studied as a result of adding a heatsink to the photovoltaic module. The results of this research show measurements of photovoltaic electricity output and photovoltaic surface temperature as an investigation of photovoltaic models without cooling and with heatsink cooling. The measurement results show that photovoltaics with heatsink cooling are capable of producing higher electrical output than only photovoltaics.