Performance analysis of solar photovoltaic panels integrated with PCMs and Fins

The design of cooling systems for solar PV panel systems has become increasingly important. The phase change materials, which are lower cost, have a long life, have reasonable efficiency, and can be integrated with different techniques, are a potential cooling mechanism for solar PV panels. In this study, numerical investigation and experimental testing of solar PV panels have been conducted using phase change materials (PCM) at different temperatures and fin arrangements. Transient numerical simulations were carried out with ANSYS Fluent software using a 2-D simplified geometry. Numerical simulations were used to evaluate the PV cell temperature and PCM thermal behavior. The numerical study was validated experimentally with PV-PT58/fins configured externally. The panel temperature was maintained below the reference panel temperature for the entire day by using PT58 and PT58/fins configured internally and externally. The average temperatures of the panel obtained from the numerical analysis were 32°C and 34.5°C for the experimental analysis, which are comparable. The experimental results show that the cooled PV module had an average efficiency of 12.03% compared to the uncooled panel's 10.84%, which is an improvement of 10.98% in the panel's electric efficiency.