Abstract
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Strong solar radiation and high ambient temperature can induce an elevated Photovoltaic (PV) cell operating temperature, which is
normally negative for its life span and power output. Different temperature dependences for PV performance have been reported and it
has been found that the efficiency of crystalline silicon cells drops at a rate of around 0.45%/C. Various cooling methods have been
proposed to achieve lower PV cell temperature in favour of higher cell efficiencies. Passive cooling by heat spreader or heat sink can
provide enough cooling to get a relatively low cell temperature even for Concentrator PV (CPV), but the heat sink surface area can
be extremely large. Natural ventilated systems can achieve PV temperature in a range of 50–70 C and forced ventilated systems are
found to achieve a lower temperature range of 20–30 C at the price of parasite electric consumption. Forced de-ionized liquid immersion
cooling, jet impingements techniques and heat pipe cooing mainly applicable to CPV systems and can achieve a temperature range of 30–
96 C. Phase change material (PCM) system due to a choice of melting temperature, amount of material to be used, and different system
designs is a promising thermal management of flat plate PV and can maintain PV temperature below its melting temperature e.g. 27 C
for a relatively long time. A facility to re-utilize of the heat energy stored in PCM is encouraged.