Study On The Thermal And Electrical Performance Of Solar PV Panel

In recent years，photovoltaic technic is developing rapidly. Most of PV cells are made bySilicon with electrical efficiency less than20%.Studies found that only less than20%solar energy is translated into electricity, whilemost of it is translated into heat which increases PV temperature. Further studies found thatthe higher PV temperature is, the lower electrical efficiency is. Every10℃temperatureincrease leads to an electrical efficiency decrease by0.5%. Many researchers tried to increaseelectrical performance of PV panel by air cooling or water cooling, while some others madePV panel work as an evaporator employing refrigerant to cool the system. However, most ofthese systems are active in which extra electrical energy is consumed.Therefore, this essay provided a study on thermal and electrical performance of PV panelwith passive cooling. The main contents include:1Study the effects of PV panel inclination, solar radiation, air temperature, wind velocityand fin space on the electrical performance of PV panel with fins by passive cooling. Analysisthe effect of fins on the electrical performance of PV panel.2Build up a PV panel and heat pipe combined system by attaching heat pipes beneaththe PV panel and setting heat exchanger on top of the PV panel. Study the effects of solarradiation, input and output water temperature and water flow rate on the electrical and thermalefficiency of the system.This subject provided a mathematical and experimental study. Matlab was used to solvethe mathematical equations. And a experimental platform was built to test numerical results.