Effective cooling of a photovoltaic module using jet-impingement array and nanofluid coolant

Cooling of photovoltaic panels is an important topic in the field of energy-efficient devices. An experimental setup is established in which SiC/water nanofluid with various flow rates acts as the coolant. This research aims at effective cooling the panel using suitable nozzle arrangement as well as simultaneous increasing the output power/enhancing the thermo-hydraulic characteristics. The results reveal that the photovoltaic module has comparatively more uniform temperature distribution when multi-orifice nozzles with relatively normal-concentration nanofluids are practically utilized. The module with the multi-orifice nozzle arrangement in which the coolant mass flow rate is 0.14kg/s and the nanoparticle concentration is 1.1 % wt (in the presence of 1000W/m(2) irradiation) produces nearly 9.3 W of electric energy, whilst is the most efficient layout in the proposed active cooling system. An increase in the flow rate and/or in the nanofluid concentration may lead to positive electrical and thermal outcomes while to negative hydrodynamic results. For a fixed circumstance, there is a particular mass flow rate and/or a special nanoparticle concentration beyond which the overall performance steadies. To evaluate electro-hydro-thermal characteristics in practice, three key parameters are introduced to assess the overall performance of the system in various conditions.

Automated summary

This research establishes an experimental setup to effectively cool photovoltaic panels using SiC/water nanofluid as a coolant with various flow rates. The results show that using multi-orifice nozzles with relatively normal-concentration nanofluids leads to a more uniform temperature distribution in the photovoltaic module. Adjusting the flow rate and nanofluid concentration can increase electrical and thermal effects but has a negative impact on hydrodynamic results.