Ansys Modeling to Extract Energy from water-Cooled Solar Panel for Household Applications

Solar panel efficiency and longevity are significantly influenced by operating temperature, with thermal cycling being a primary cause of performance degradation. This study investigates the integration of a closed-loop water cooling system into solar panels to achieve two primary objectives. First, the reduction of the panel’s surface temperature to enhance efficiency. Second, assessing the feasibility of repurposing the heated water from the cooling system for household applications. This investigation employs modeling via Ansys Fluent to predict changes in surface temperature under specified operating conditions. A SunPower E19/320 PV (200W) panel was initially modeled in SolidWorks and subsequently analyzed for thermal analysis through Ansys Fluent simulation. The study focuses on three critical parameters: coolant flow rate optimization, material selection, and design geometry. A steady-state heat transfer model, coupled with laminar fluid flow analysis, was utilized to evaluate the relationship between coolant flow rates and temperature reduction. Simulations were conducted under a constant heat flux of 800 W/m<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> with water flow rates ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 L/min.Preliminary results indicate that the cooling system achieves a 42% reduction in panel surface temperature, decreasing it from 52°C to 30°C. This temperature reduction correlates to an estimated 89% increase in the solar panel’s efficiency, improving it from 9.34% to 17.7%. Additionally, the integration of the cooling system presents an energy conservation opportunity: the thermal energy absorbed by the water (Tinlet = 30°C, Toutlet = 50°C) can be harnessed for domestic applications. These findings highlight the dual benefits of integrating a cooling system: improved solar panel efficiency and the potential for sustainable thermal energy utilization in household applications. Detailed results and further discussion will be presented.