Design and Development of Cooling Systems for PV Cells Performance Improvement

This paper presents a concise review of cooling techniques for the solar PV systems.

The photovoltaic effect was firstly experimentally demonstrated by the French physicist Edmond Becquel in 1839. The first useful solar cell (6% energy efficiency) was performed by the Bell Laboratories (1950). They realized that the semiconducting materials such silicon were more efficient than selenium.

The following conditions have a significant impact on solar panel’s efficiency, in real-world use: irradiance (W/m²), shading, orientation and temperature. The ambient temperature, wind speed, time of day and the amount of solar irradiance (W/m²) make real variation in cells temperature that often rises above 25ºC. The optimum internal cell temperature is typically 25-30ºC above the ambient air temperature and solar cell performance decreases with increasing temperature with 8-15% in total power output. That’s why engineers design cooling systems to improve the efficiency of solar panels that operate in non-optimal conditions.