Effect of Some Parameters Related to the PV Cooling with Impingement Jets: a Numerical Investigation

Photovoltaic panels are considered as one of the most used renewable energy conversion systems from solar energy for its compactness and ease of installation and. One of the big problems facing the efficiency of such systems is its deterioration at high temperatures. This research presents a perpendicular flow cooling system for the PV module as photovoltaic- thermal system. The thermal module under consideration uses compact design and efficient cool. The fluid used is tap water with five flow rates in the range between 0.012 and 0.106 LPM. The system has been tested under radiation intensities ranging from 400 to 1000 W/m2. The cooling jets have been distributed in structured and unstructured schemes. It has been found out that the enhancement in the electrical efficiency reaches 0.62% at the maximum flow rate and maximum radiation intensity, with a decrease of the PV temperature of 11.33 °C. The jet distribution has not affected the value of the electrical efficiency as it gives the same average panel’s temperature. The thermal efficiency reaches 44.9% with the maximum flow rate and maximum irradiance power at the unstructured jet distribution. The maximum overall efficiency has been achieved at the same conditions of the maximum thermal efficiency with a value of 58.83%.