© 2021 IIETA. This article is published by IIETA and is licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
OPEN ACCESS
In spite of high solar radiation being an advantage for the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, the caused high surface temperature of the panel surface reduces their efficiency, as well as lifetime span due to cyclic thermal stresses. PV panels are deteriorating due to two setbacks from a harsh climate: shallow temperatures during the night leading to condensation and overheating during the day leading to reduced efficiency. The present paper discusses and resolves the two setbacks in the PV performance by cooling the panel during the day and heating the panel during the night using water circulation in a ground embedded heat exchanger. Experimental and numerical methods were used to carry out the investigation on the influence of the proposed technique on the PV performance. Following the experiments, a computational model has been developed to simulate the experimental set-up. Two PV modules have been tested simultaneously in outdoor environment; one is bare and the second is integrated with ground heat exchanger. Results revealed that the integrated heat exchanger has managed to reduce the PV surface temperature by around 8oC during the daytime and rise the PV surface temperature by around 3oC more than the due temperature, at which condensation takes place during the night time. The developed technique has proved to be highly efficient as a PV thermal control method.
condensate in solar systems, ground heat exchanger, integrated solar system, PV/T, thermal control
[1] Dorobanţu, L., Popescu, M., Popescu, C. & Crăciunescu, A., Experimental assessment of PV panels front water cooling strategy. International Conference on Renewable Energies and Power Quality (ICREPQ’13), Bilbao, Spain, pp. 1009–1012, 2013.
[2] Krauter, S., Increased electrical yield via water flow over the front of photovoltaic pan- els. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 82, pp. 131–137, 2004. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.solmat.2004.01.011
[3] Moharram, K.A., Abd-Elhady, M., Kandil, H. & El-Sherif, H., Enhancing the perfor- mance of photovoltaic panels by water cooling. Ain Shams Engineering Journal, 4, pp. 869–877, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2013.03.005
[4] Bahaidarah, H., Subhan, A., Gandhidasan, P. & Rehman, S., Performance evaluation of a PV (photovoltaic) module by back surface water cooling for hot climatic conditions. Energy, 59, pp. 445–453, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2013.07.050
[5] Hongbing, C., Xilin, C., Sizhuo, L. & Sai, C., Experimental study on the energy performance of PV-HP water heating system. Energy Procedia, 75, pp. 294–300, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2015.07.351
[6] Jakhar, S., Soni, M. & Gakkhar, N., Performance analysis of photovoltaic panels with earth water heat exchanger cooling. MATEC Web of Conferences, 2016.
[7] Chiasson, A.D., Spitler, J.D., Rees, S.J. & Smith, M.D., A model for simulating the per- formance of a shallow pond as a supplemental heat rejecter with closed-loop ground- source heat pump systems. Ashrae Transactions, 106, p. 107, 2000.
[8] Odeh, S. & Behnia, M., Improving photovoltaic module efficiency using water cooling. Heat Transfer Engineering, 30, pp. 499–505, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1080/0145763 0802529214
[9] Hosseini, R., Hosseini, N. & Khorasanizadeh, H., An experimental study of combining a photovoltaic system with a heating system. World Renewable Energy Congress, Swe- den; 8–13 May; 2011; Linköping; Sweden, pp. 2993–3000, 2011.
[10] Reda, M.N, Spinnler, M., Al-Kayiem H.H. & Sattelmayer, T., Analysis of ground ther- mal control systems for solar photovoltaic performance enhancement. WIT Transac- tions on Ecology and the Environment, 246, pp. 41–50, 2020.
[11] Hegazy, A.A., Effect of dust accumulation on solar transmittance through glass cov- ers of plate-type collectors. Renewable Energy, 22(4), pp. 525–540, 2001. https://doi. org/10.1016/s0960-1481(00)00093-8
[12] Kordzadeh, A., The effects of nominal power of array and system head on the operation of photovoltaic water pumping set with array surface covered by a film of water. Renew- able Energy, 35, pp. 1098–1102, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2009.10.024
[13] Al-Kayiem, H.H., Mohammed A. Aurybi, M.A. & Gilani, S.I.U., Influence of canopy condensate film on the performance of solar chimney power plant. Renewable Energy 136, pp. 1012–1021, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.01.067
[14] Yusof, T.M., Anuar, S. & Ibrahim, H., A review of ground heat exchangers for cooling application in the Malaysian climate. Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences, 8, pp. 1426–1439, 2015. https://doi.org/10.15282/jmes.8.2015.17.0139
[15] ASHRAE Handbook, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Condition- ing Engineers, Inc, 2005.
[16] Bansal, V., Misra, R., Agrawal, G.D. & Mathur, J., Performance analysis of earth-pipe- air heat exchanger for winter heating. Energy and Buildings, 41, pp. 1151–1154, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2009.05.010
[17] Chel, A., Janssens, A. & De Paepe, M., Thermal performance of a nearly zero energy passive house integrated with the air-air heat exchanger and the earth-water heat exchanger. Energy and Buildings, 96, pp. 53–63, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbuild.2015.02.058
[18] T’Joen, C., Liu, L. & De Paepe, M., Comparison of earth-air and earth-water ground tube heat exchangers for residential application. International Refrigeration and Air- Conditioning Conference, Purdue University, Herrick Laboratories, 2012.
[19] Chel, A., Janssens, A. & De Paepe, M., Thermal performance of a nearly zero energy passive house integrated with the air-air heat exchanger and the earth-water heat exchanger. Energy and Buildings, 96, pp. 53–63, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. enbuild.2015.02.058
[20] Lim, D. C., Al-Kayiem, H. H. & Kurnia, J. C., Comparison of different turbulence models in pipe flow of various Reynolds numbers. AIP Conference Proceedings 2035, 020005, 2018.
[21] Ruzicka, P., Modeling of boundary layer and the influence on heat transfer with help of CFD. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2047, 020021, 2018.