<p> One of the main problems in using the photovoltaic system is the low energy conversion efficiency of photovoltaic cells and, furthermore, during the long operational period of solar cells, their energy conversion efficiency decreases even more due to increase in operating cell temperature over a certain limit. One way of improving the efficiency of photovoltaic system is to maintain a low operating temperature by cooling it down during its operation period. This study compares the effects of cooling on the performance of photovoltaic system. Experiments are performed on the solar panel inclined at fixed 45° angle without active cooling initially to have a set of reference performance parameters for comparison. Afterwards, cooling of the solar panel is carried out using air and water, separately, as the cooling fluids. I-V tests and temperature tests, for all the cases, are performed for comparative analysis. The energy balance calculations showed that the experimental results are in conformity with the theoretical results. The results further showed that the cooling of photovoltaic system using water over the front surface enhances the performance even more as compared to air cooling of solar panel. </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:1560782 |
| Date | 10 September 2014 |
| Creators | Ali, Rehan |
| Publisher | Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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