Experimental Study of Enhanced Performance Solar Photovoltaic Panel with Fins and Phase Change Material-Based Cooling System on the Back Plate

Abstract Elevated operating temperatures reduce the efficiency and life of solar photovoltaic (SPV) panels. This problem has greater severity in the high ambient temperature regions, such as the hot and arid region of the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, India. The use of a cooling technique can offer a solution to this problem. This article presents the results of an experimental study of a novel cooling scheme of longitudinal fins with phase change material (PCM) on the back side of the panel. An outdoor experimental study at Jodhpur, a city situated in the Thar Desert, showed that aluminum fins of 23 mm height affixed at a pitch of 35 mm to the back sheet of the photovoltaic panel along with 25-mm-thick paraffin organic PCM in an acrylic sheet chamber on the back provide 9.5–14 °C reduction in the temperature of the front face of the panel as compared to the panel without any cooling system. The power output and electrical efficiency were enhanced by an overall average of about 15.5% during the period 8:00–15:30 h of the day of experimentation. The fins penetrating into the PCM facilitate heat transfer from the back plate to the PCM mass. The presented water-free passive cooling technique can be successfully employed for the SPV power plants installed in the hot and arid region of the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, where the average daytime maximum ambient temperature of 32–42 °C and a night-time minimum temperature of 15–28 °C in March–November duration are reported.