Effect evaluation of frame perforation on reducing photovoltaic panel temperature with passive air cooling

The geometric configuration of the frame significantly affects the surrounding air flow and heat transfer characteristics of photovoltaic (PV) panels, thereby impacting the photo-electric performance of PV panels. The main novelty of this study is the comprehensive effect evaluation of frame perforation on passive air cooling performance, thermal management and electric performance of PV panels. By using three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, this study systematically evaluates the effects of different perforation conditions on the flow field and PV panel temperature distribution under passive air convection conditions, including non-perforated, single-side, dual-side, tri-side and four-side perforation conditions. The evaluated hole shapes include circular and rectangular. An experimental setup is built to verify the simulation model of PV panel cooling. The thermal and electric performances of PV panels with a tilt angle of 11.0° in seventeen different frame perforation cases are compared. The results show that some perforation patterns enhance the heat dissipation of PV panels to different extents. When the wind speed is 6.0 m/s and the incident solar intensity is 900.0 W/m 2 , among the seventeen evaluated cases, the best PV panel frame perforation pattern is the frame with eight circular holes on the windward side, and the output electric power and photo-electric conversion efficiency of that PV panel are 24.18 W and 15.9%. Compared with the non-perforated PV panel with a tilt angle of 0.0° under the 6.0 m/s wind speed condition, it can achieve a PV panel temperature reduction of 5.44 °C. And in contrast with the non-perforated PV panel under the no-wind condition, it can bring an average PV panel temperature reduction of 37.8 °C and an increase in photo-electric conversion efficiency of 2.89%.