Experimental study of water cooling effect on heat transfer to increase output power of 180 watt peak photovoltaic module

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) modules require solar radiation to generate electricity. This study aims to determine the effect of water cooling PV modules on heat transfer, output power, and electrical efficiency of PV modules. The experiments carried out in this study were to vary the heights of flooded water (with and without cooling water replacement control) and cooling water flow. Variations in the height of flooded water are 0,5 cm, 1 cm, 2 cm, and 4 cm. While the flow rate variations are 2 L/min, 4 L/min, and 8 L/min. The flooded water replacement control will be active when the PV surface temperature reached 45°C. When the temperature dropped to 35°C, the cooler is disabled to let more photon to reach PV surface. The results showed that the lowest heat transfer occurred in the variation of 4 cm flooded water height without water replacement control, i.e. 28.53 Watt, with an average PV surface temperature of 32.92°C. The highest average electric efficiency occurred in the variation of 0,5 cm flooded water height with water replacement control, i.e. 13.12%. The use of cooling water replacement control is better due to being able to skip more photons reach PV surface with low PV temperature.