Effects of passive cooling on performance

of silicon photovoltaic cells

..............................................................................................................................................................

Erdem Cuce*, Tulin Bali and Suphi Anil Sekucoglu

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Karadeniz Technical University,
61080 Trabzon, Turkey

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/6/4/299/665839 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan University user on 17 October 2020
.............................................................................................................................................
Abstract
In this study, an experimental research concerning the effects of passive cooling on performance
parameters of silicon solar cells was presented. An aluminum heat sink was used in order to dissipate
waste heat from a photovoltaic (PV) cell. Dimensions of the heat sink were determined considering the
results of a steady-state heat transfer analysis. The experiments were carried out for different ambient
temperatures and various illumination intensities up to 1 sun under solar simulator. Experimental
results indicate that energy, exergy and power conversion efficiency of the PV cell considerably increase
with the proposed cooling technique. An increase of 20% in power output of the PV cell is achieved
at 800 W/m2 radiation condition. Maximum level of cooling is observed for the intensity level of
600 W/m2. Performance of PV cells both with and without fins increases with decreasing ambient
temperature.

Keywords: photovoltaic cell; passive cooling; heat sink; performance; efficiency

*Corresponding author:
[email protected] Received 2 April 2011; revised 16 June 2011; accepted 7 July 2011
................................................................................................................................................................................

1 INTRODUCTION decrease arises from the drop in voltage parameters of PV cells.

Therefore, it is necessary to keep the PV cell temperature and
Solar energy is one of the most important renewable energy cell reflection as low as possible in order to enhance the effi-
technologies, since it provides an unlimited, clean and environ- ciency of PV cells. Air-cooled or water-cooled technology for
mentally friendly energy. Conversion of sunlight directly into PV cells has been studied for many years. Passive cooling may
electricity by photovoltaic (PV) cells is a significant and be considered one of the most effective methods to provide an
rapidly developing solar energy application. Intensive efforts acceptable level of cooling for PV cells. This technique enables
are made to reduce the cost per peak power obtained from PV to cool a PV cell by using low-cost extended surfaces via
cells. These efforts aim at narrowing the gap between PV and natural convection and requires no additional device such as
conventional power sources. Besides the importance of devel- fan, pump, etc. for heat extraction. Therefore, passive cooling
oping new manufacturing processes related to PV cells, it is method is quite cheap and practical.
quite significant to provide the most appropriate operating An experimental evaluation of phase change materials for
conditions for a PV system. thermal management of PV devices has been presented by
The present commercial PV cells convert solar energy into Huang et al. [11]. The experimental results indicated that the
electricity with a relatively low efficiency, ,20%. More than cell temperature of building integrated PVs can be reduced by
80% of the absorbed energy is dumped to the PV cell as waste more than 308C.
heat [1]. This heat is generated in two ways. First, there are Odeh and Behnia [12] have carried out an experimental
I 2 Rs as a result of the current flowing through the resistance, study about improving the PV module efficiency using water
Rs, of the solar cell. Second, there is the thermal energy which cooling. Cooling of the PV panel was achieved by introducing
represents the difference between the absorbed solar photons water trickling configuration on the upper surface of the PV
and the realized electrical energy of the generated electron – panel. The experimental results showed that an increase of
hole pairs [2]. Cell temperature is of vital importance for per- 15% in system output was achieved at peak radiation con-
formance of PV cells. Temperature dependence of performance ditions. Abdolzadeh and Ameri have carried out an experimen-
parameters and energy conversion in PV cells is investigated by tal study about improving the effectiveness of a PV water
many authors [3– 10]. It is well known that the efficiency of pumping system by spraying water over the front of PV cells.
PV cells decreases with increasing cell temperature. This A 225 W PV water pumping system was used in that study.

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2011, 6, 299– 308

# The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: [email protected]
doi:10.1093/ijlct/ctr018 Advance Access Publication 2 September 2011 299
E. Cuce et al.

It was shown that, spraying water over the cells increases the where k0 is the Boltzmann constant (1.381  10223 J/K), q0 the
PV cell efficiency, subsystem efficiency and total efficiency electronic charge (1.602  10219 C) and T the temperature.
3.26, 1.40, 1.35%, respectively [13]. A real PV cell can be characterized by two main parameters
Zhu et al. investigated a liquid-immersion cooling method which are short-circuit current (Isc) and open-circuit voltage
for efficient heat removal from densely packed solar cells in (Voc). Short-circuit current is the current through the PV cell
highly concentrating systems. The direct contact heat transfer when the voltage across the cell is zero. Open-circuit voltage
performance was investigated under different concentration reflects the voltage of the cell in the night and it can be math-
ratios, liquid temperatures and flow velocities. Electrical per- ematically expressed as
formance of the immersed module was also measured.    

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/6/4/299/665839 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan University user on 17 October 2020
Experimental results show that the module temperature can be nk0 T Iph Iph
Voc ¼ 0 ln ¼ Vth ln ð2Þ
cooled to lower than 458C and the convective heat transfer q Ids Ids
coefficient can be higher than 3000 W/m2 K [14]. Anderson
et al. have presented an experimental study about heat pipe where n is the ideality factor.
cooling of concentrating PV cells. A cooling design that uses a It is clear in literature that the open-circuit voltage increases
copper/water heat pipe with aluminum fins to cool a concen- logarithmically with the ambient irradiation, while the short-
trating PV cell by natural convection was analyzed [15]. circuit current is a linear function of the ambient irradiation.
The particular temperature characteristics of concentration The dominant effect with increasing cell’s temperature is the
PV system which is different from the normal PV system are linear decrease in the open-circuit voltage, the cell being thus
analyzed by Qifen et al. [16]. Non-uniformly temperature dis- less efficient. The short-circuit current slightly increases with
tribution’s influence on PV system’s electrical characteristics, the cell temperature [20].
which is caused by non-uniformly concentrated solar radiation, Efficiency for a PV cell measures the ability to convert
was discussed. Cooling of PV cells was considered as one of radiative energy into electrical energy. There are three main
the main concerns when designing concentration PV systems. efficiency expressions which characterize the performance
Royne et al. [17] have presented an overview of various evaluation of PV cells. These are called as energy, exergy and
methods that can be employed for cooling of PV cells. Tonui power conversion efficiencies. Energy efficiency is determined
and Tripanagnostopoulos [18] found that heat extraction from by the ratio of theoretical electrical power output of a PV cell
the PV module can be enhanced with fins for better divided by the input illumination intensity.
electrical and thermal energy production. Tonui and Isc Voc
Tripanagnostopoulos [19] have investigated the performance of he ¼ ð3Þ
GA
two low-cost heat extraction improvement modifications in the
channel of a PV/T air system to achieve higher thermal output where A is the surface area of the PV cells (m2).
and PV cooling so as to keep the electrical efficiency at accepta- Power conversion efficiency is determined by the ratio of
ble level. the area under the current – voltage characteristic curve of a PV
The goal of this study is to investigate passive cooling effects cell divided by the input illumination intensity.
on performance of silicon PV cells. Effects of passive cooling Ð Voc
technique on performance characteristics of silicon solar cells IðVÞ dV
are analyzed for various illumination intensities under the hpce ¼ 0 ð4Þ
GA
solar simulator. The study also aims at investigating the level of
cooling achieved for each intensity level. Enhancement in the Exergy efficiency is calculated as the maximum useful energy
efficiency and maximum power output is evaluated. produced by a PV cell divided by the input exergy of illumina-
tion intensity.
Im Vm
hex ¼ ð5Þ
Gex A
2 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
The exergy content of thermal radiation has been presented by
2.1 Theory and analysis Petela [21]. Cuce [22] investigated the performance evaluation
The current – voltage relation of a PV cell under constant of PV systems under various operating conditions.
illumination intensity is given by Thermodynamic assessment of PV cells has been proposed in
    recent studies [23 – 25].
j V þ IRs
I ¼ Iph  Ids exp ðV þ IRs Þ  1  ð1Þ
n Rsh

where Iph, Ids, n, Rs and Rsh are the photocurrent, diode satur- 2.2 Experimental setup
ation current, ideality factor, series resistance and shunt resist- The experimental setup consists of a solar simulator, a control
ance, respectively. j ¼ q 0 /k 0 T is the usual inverse thermal voltage, room and measurement devices.

300 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2011, 6, 299– 308

 Effects of passive cooling on performance of silicon PV cells

2.2.1 Solar simulator 2.2.3 Measurement devices

A solar simulator was manufactured in order to carry out the Kipp & Zonen CMP 11 Pyranometer with high linearity and
experiments under any constant illumination intensity. The low tilt error was used to measure illumination intensity. The
solar simulator illustrated in Figure 1a consists of 12 tungsten electrical parameters of the PV cell were evaluated using
halogen bulbs. The maximum power of the illumination FLUKE 87V multimeters with a measuring error of 0.2% for
system is 12 suns. It was placed in a hood and was mounted DC current and 0.06% for DC voltage. A 1100 V, 0.8 A rheo-
on the top of the control room. An electronic circuit was man- stat was used to vary the resistance of the circuit. A LUTRON
ufactured and it was placed in an electrical panel. The illumi- HT 3006HA humidity – temperature meter was utilized for
nation intensity could be adjusted to any constant value using temperature and humidity measurements of the control room.

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/6/4/299/665839 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan University user on 17 October 2020
a potentiometer which was connected to the electrical panel. An EXTECH infrared high-temperature thermometer was used
in order to measure the cell temperature. Measurement devices
are illustrated in Figure 1c.
2.2.2 Control room Calibration of the solar simulator is very significant in terms
A control room with air-conditioning system was constructed of the accuracy of the experimental results. Before starting the
to carry out the experiments under constant ambient tempera- experiments, the distance at which the PV cells are positioned
ture (Tamb ¼ 258C). The control room has 1000 mm length, from the solar simulator was determined with respect to the elec-
1500 mm width and 2000 mm height. During the manufactur- trical characteristics of the PV cell presented by the manufacturer
ing of the control room, 10 mm thick glass wool was used for standard test conditions. The simulation results showed good
between two 20 mm thick plywood plates in order to provide agreement with the manufacturer’s data report. The experiments
insulation. An air conditioner with 15 000 BTU cooling were carried out in the illumination intensity range 200–
capacity was assembled on one side of the control room as it is 800 W/m2. Temperature of the control room was adjusted to
seen in Figure 1b.

Figure 1. Solar simulator (a), control room (b) and measurement devices (c).

Figure 2. Photovoltaic cells equipped with fins and without fins (a) and straight fins of uniform cross section (b).

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2011, 6, 299– 308 301

E. Cuce et al.

Figure 3. Convection and radiation losses from the surface of photovoltaic cell (a) with and (b) without fins.

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/6/4/299/665839 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan University user on 17 October 2020

Figure 4. Surface temperature profiles of photovoltaic cell with fins for (a) 200, (b) 400, (c) 600 and (d) 800 W/m2.

258C. Two identical polycrystalline silicon PV cells were analyzed components. The heat sink was attached at the back of the PV
in the experimental study. One of the PV cells was equipped with cell from the corner points using adhesive.
an aluminum heat sink while the other was not as it is shown in The heat sink used in the experimental study is a high effi-
Figure 2a. Thermal grease was used between the heat sink and cient heat dissipation device, especially preferred in electronics.
the back surface of the PV cell. Thermal grease is a fluid sub- Dimensions of the heat sink were determined considering
stance which increases the thermal conductivity of a thermal the results of a steady-state heat transfer analysis. Thickness of
interface by compensating for the irregular surfaces of the the fins varies from bottom to top, but the variation of

302 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2011, 6, 299– 308

 Effects of passive cooling on performance of silicon PV cells

cross-sectional area can be neglected. Bottom thickness of the where

fins is 1 mm. Before starting the experiments, cell temperatures uðxÞ ¼ TðxÞ  T1 and m2 ¼ hP=kA0c .
of PV cells were adjusted to 208C. Steady-state temperatures of The general solution of Equation (6) is
PV cells were measured by an infrared high-temperature ther-
mometer. Energy, exergy and power conversion efficiencies of uðxÞ ¼ C1 emx þ C2 emx ð7Þ
PV cells were calculated for each operating condition. In
addition, maximum power outputs of PV cells were determined
for various radiation conditions and the results were compared. ubf ¼ Tbf  T1 ð8Þ

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/6/4/299/665839 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan University user on 17 October 2020
2.3 Heat transfer analysis where the subscript bf denotes the base of fins.
Heat transfer analysis is based on the assumption that the fins The first tip condition considers that the rate at which
have uniform cross-sectional area as shown in Figure 2b. For energy is transferred to the fluid by convection from the tip
the prescribed fins, must equal the rate at which energy reaches the tip by conduc-
tion through the fin [26].
d2 u 
 m2 u ¼ 0 ð6Þ du
dx2 huðLÞ ¼ k  ð9Þ
dx x¼L

where L is the length of fins and k the thermal conductivity.

Substituting Equation (7) into Equations (8 and 9), temp-
erature distribution is obtained as follows:

u cosh mðL  xÞ þ ðh=mkÞsinh mðL  xÞ

¼ ð10Þ
ubf cosh mL þ ðh=mkÞ sinh mL

The amount of heat transferred from the entire fin is deter-

mined by applying Fourier’s law at the fin base.

du 
qf ¼ kA0c  ð11Þ
dx x¼0

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi sinh mL þ ðh=mkÞ cosh mL

Figure 5. Effect of shunt resistance on current-voltage characteristic of a qf ¼ hPkA0c ubf ð12Þ
photovoltaic cell. cosh mL þ ðh=mkÞ sinh mL

Figure 6. Current-voltage (a) and power-voltage characteristics (b) of photovoltaic cells with/without fins for 200 W/m2.

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2011, 6, 299– 308 303

E. Cuce et al.

Table 1. Measured and calculated parameters in the experimental study. Total amount of heat transferred from the fins is determined
for each illumination intensity as follows:
G (W/m2), with fins G (W/m2), without fins

200 400 600 800 200 400 600 800

X
qf ¼ N qf ð13Þ
Tc (8C) 27.9 36.6 43.7 50.4 34.5 46.2 56.6 67.9
Isc (mA) 44.90 134.42 241.46 366.60 45.51 136.50 247.00 368.00
Voc (V) 2.05 2.12 2.11 2.10 1.93 2.01 1.99 1.91 where N is the number of fins.
he 3.47 5.35 6.38 7.23 3.31 5.17 6.16 6.61 Radiation heat transfer rate from the surface of the PV cell
hpce 2.93 4.50 5.34 6.03 2.41 4.07 5.04 5.34 is determined as follows:

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/6/4/299/665839 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan University user on 17 October 2020
hex 2.31 3.66 4.30 4.76 1.67 3.13 3.96 3.96
Wm (mW) 50.18 188.06 325.94 463.82 42.01 160.99 279.97 398.95
qrad ¼ 1 s Ac ðTc4  Tamb
4
Þ ð14Þ

Figure 7. Current-voltage (a) and power-voltage characteristics (b) of photovoltaic cells with/without fins for 400 W/m2.

Figure 8. Current-voltage (a) and power-voltage characteristics (b) of photovoltaic cells with/without fins for 600 W/m2.

304 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2011, 6, 299– 308

 Effects of passive cooling on performance of silicon PV cells

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/6/4/299/665839 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan University user on 17 October 2020
Figure 9. Current-voltage (a) and power-voltage characteristics (b) of photovoltaic cells with/without fins for 800 W/m2.

Figure 10. Efficiencies (a) and maximum power output (b) of photovoltaic cells for various illumination intensities.

where 1 is the emission coefficient, s the Stefan – Boltzmann 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
constant (5.67  10218 W/m2 K4) and the subscript rad and
amb denote radiation loss and ambient, respectively. In this experimental study, effects of passive cooling on per-
Total amount of heat transferred from the entire PV cell formance parameters of silicon PV cells were investigated. First
with and without fins is determined considering the convec- of all, dimensions of the passive cooling device were deter-
tion and radiation losses as shown in Figure 3. The level of mined with respect to the results of a steady-state heat transfer
cooling achieved for each illumination intensity level is calcu- analysis. Then, the surfaces of PV cells with and without fins
lated as follows: were scanned by a highly sensitive infrared thermometer in
order to observe the temperature distribution for each illumi-
jqt  qtf j nation intensity level. Current – voltage and power– voltage
level of cooling ¼ ð15Þ
qt characteristics were determined for various insolation levels
and enhancement in the efficiency and maximum power

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2011, 6, 299– 308 305

E. Cuce et al.

output was calculated. Finally, maximum level of cooling Energy, exergy and power conversion efficiencies of PV cells
achieved was presented. increase exponentially with increasing intensity levels as it is
An almost homogenous temperature distribution is clear in Figure 10a. Using the passive cooling technique, an
observed on the surface of the PV cell with fins as shown increase of 9, 13 and 20% is achieved in energy, power con-
in Figure 4a – d. The temperature distribution is completely version and exergy efficiency, respectively.
homogenous on the surface of the PV cell without fins as Figure 10b shows that the difference of the electrical power
expected. outputs of PV cells increases with increasing illumination
The shunt resistance, Rsh , represents any parallel high- intensity levels. Therefore, the passive cooling technique is suit-
conductivity paths (shunts) across the solar cell p– n junction able for concentrated applications of PVs if sufficient cooling

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/6/4/299/665839 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan University user on 17 October 2020
or on the cell edges [27]. Shunt resistance notably affects the is provided.
current – voltage characteristic of a PV cell as it is shown in
Figure 5 [28]. Shunt resistance of a PV cell decreases with
increasing cell temperature. As a result of that, energy Table 2. Results for different ambient temperatures.
content of the PV cell decreases, especially in low-intensity Tamb (8C), with fins Tamb (8C), without fins
levels [29, 30]. Comparison of current – voltage characteristics of
15 25 35 15 25 35
PV cells under 200 W/m2 illumination intensity is shown in
Figure 6a. The effect of a decreasing shunt resistance on the Tc (8C) 22.2 36.6 50.1 30.4 46.2 62.3
current – voltage characteristic of PV cell without fins is clear. Isc (mA) 133.20 134.42 139.10 134.00 136.51 142.11
Voc (V) 2.21 2.12 1.97 2.14 2.01 1.87
Figure 6b shows the power– voltage characteristics of PV
he 5.53 5.35 5.15 5.39 5.17 4.99
cells under 200 W/m2 intensity level. Power output of PV cells hpce 4.95 4.50 3.91 4.59 4.07 3.51
decreases with increasing cell temperature. This decrease arises hex 4.32 3.66 2.98 3.77 3.13 2.49
from the drop in voltage parameters of PV cells [31]. The PV Wm (mW) 213.69 188.06 147.19 186.73 160.99 123.34
cell equipped with fins provides more electrical energy than
without fins because of the lower cell temperature. An increase
of 8 mW in power output is achieved compared with
without fins using the passive cooling technique under 200 W/ Table 3. Heat dissipation from photovoltaic cell with and without fins.
m2 illumination intensity. Increases in power output are 27, 46
G (W/m2)
and 65 mW for 400, 600 and 800 W/m2, respectively, as it is
illustrated in Table 1. 200 400 600 800
Dominant effect of shunt resistance on the current – voltage qtf (W) — 5.49 9.06 12.03
characteristic of PV cell without fins decreases with increasing qt (W) — 4.54 6.91 9.61
intensity levels as shown in Figures 7a, 8a and 9a. Although Tc (8C) 34.5 46.2 56.6 67.9
current parameters of the PV cell equipped with fins are lower Tbc (8C) 33.3 43.8 52.8 62.9
than without fins, power output is higher because of the lower Tcf (8C) 27.9 36.6 43.7 50.4
Tbf (8C) 26.1 30.3 33.7 36.4
cell temperatures. Comparison of maximum electrical power
output of PV cells is shown in Figures 7b, 8b and 9b.

Figure 11. Current-voltage characteristics of photovoltaic cells with/without

Figure 12. Level of cooling achieved for each illumination intensity level.
fins for different ambient temperatures.

306 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2011, 6, 299– 308

 Effects of passive cooling on performance of silicon PV cells

The experiments were also carried out for different ambient FUNDING
temperatures. As shown in Figure 11, the effect of shunt resist-
ance on the current – voltage characteristic becomes dominant The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support
with increasing ambient temperature. Maximum power output provided by TÜBİTAK through the grant 107M642.
of the PV cells both with and without fins increases with
decreasing ambient temperature as shown in Table 2. For the
ambient temperature of 158C, the PV cell with fins produces
14.4% more energy than the one without fins.
REFERENCES

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/6/4/299/665839 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan University user on 17 October 2020
4 CONCLUSION [1] Huang BJ, Lin TH, Hung WC, et al. Performance evaluation of solar
photovoltaic/thermal systems. Solar Energy 2001;70:443– 8.
[2] Cheknane A, Benyoucef B, Chaker A. Performance of concentrator solar
In this study, effects of passive cooling on performance par-
cells with passive cooling. Semicond Sci Technol 2006;21:144– 7.
ameters of silicon PV cells are investigated for various radiation [3] Radziemska E. The effect of temperature on the power drop in crystalline
conditions. Efficiency and maximum power output of PV cells silicon solar cells. Renew Energy 2003;28:1– 12.
with and without fins are determined for each illumination [4] Vorobiev YV, Gorley N. Photovoltaic solar cells performance at elevated
intensity and the results are compared. The specific findings of temperatures. Solar Energy 2005;78:243 –50.
the study can be summarized below. [5] Radziemska E. Thermal performance of Si and GaAs based solar cells and
modules: a review. Prog Energy Combust Sci 2003;29:407– 24.
(1) Energy, exergy and power conversion efficiencies of PV [6] Skoplaki E, Palyvos JA. On the temperature dependence of photovoltaic
cells with and without fins increase exponentially with module electrical performance: a review of efficiency/power correlations.
increasing intensity levels. When the PV cells are exposed Solar Energy 2009;83:614– 24.
to 800 W/m2 illumination intensity, an increase of 9, 13 [7] El-Adawi MK, Al-Nuaim IA. The temperature functional dependence of
VOC for a solar cell in relation to its efficiency new approach. Desalination
and 20% is achieved in energy, power conversion and
2007;209:91– 6.
exergy efficiency, respectively.
[8] Radziemska E, Klugmann E. Thermally affected parameters of the
(2) Maximum power output of PV cells decreases with current– voltage characteristics of silicon photocell. Energy Convers
increasing cell temperature. This decrease arises from the Manage 2002;43:1889– 900.
drop in voltage parameters of PV cells. Experimental [9] Cuce E, Bali T. Variation of cell parameters of a p-Si PV cell with different
results show that the PV cell equipped with fins provides solar irradiances and cell temperatures in humid climates. In: Proceedings
more electrical energy than without fins for each illumina- of the Fourth International Exergy, Energy and Environment Symposium.
tion intensity level because of its lower cell temperature. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2009.
Increases in power output are 8, 27, 46 and 65 for 200, [10] Cuce E, Bali T. A comparison of energy and power conversion efficiencies
400, 600 and 800 W/m2, respectively. of m-Si and p-Si PV cells in Trabzon. In: Proceedings of the Fifth
(3) Shunt resistance notably affects the current – voltage International Advanced Technologies Symposium. Karabük, Turkey, 2009.
[11] Huang MJ, Eames PC, Norton B. Phase change materials for limiting
characteristic of a PV cell. It is observed from experimental
temperature rise in building integrated photovoltaics. Solar Energy
results that the dominant effect of shunt resistance on the
2006;80:1121– 30.
current – voltage characteristic of the PV cell without fins [12] Odeh S, Behnia M. Improving photovoltaic module efficiency using water
decreases with increasing intensity levels. cooling. Heat Transfer Eng 2009;30:499– 505.
(4) The results of heat transfer analysis show that the amount [13] Abdolzadeh M, Ameri M. Improving the effectiveness of a photovoltaic
of heat dissipated from the PV cell with fins is 5.49, 9.06 water pumping system by spraying water over the front of photovoltaic
and 12.03 W for 400, 600 and 800 W/m2, respectively. On cells. Renew Energy 2009;34:91– 6.
the other hand, the PV cell without fins only dissipates [14] Zhu L, Wang Y, Fang Z, et al. An effective heat dissipation method for
4.54, 6.91 and 9.61 W of heat for the intensity levels inves- densely packed solar cells under high concentrations. Solar Energy Mater
tigated as shown in Table 3. Solar Cells 2010;94:133– 40.
(5) Because the temperature difference is only 1.18C between [15] Anderson WG, Dussinger PM, Sarraf DB, et al. Heat pipe cooling of con-
centrating photovoltaic cells. In 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists
fins and the surrounding air, the passive cooling technique
Conference, Vols 1– 4, 905– 10, San Diego, CA, 2008.
is inefficient for the intensity level of 200 W/m2. The level
[16] Qifen L, Zhangbo Y, Lifeng Z, et al. Analysis on temperature character-
of cooling achieved for the intensity levels of 400, 600 and istics of concentration photovoltaic system. In: Proceedings of the 9th
800 W/m2 is 20.09, 31.1 and 25.2%, respectively, as shown International Conference on Power Engineering, Vol. 1, 139 – 44, Kobe,
in Figure 12. Japan, 2009.
(6) In future studies, performance of silicon PV cells will be [17] Royne A, Dey CJ, Mills DR. Cooling of photovoltaic cells under concen-
investigated under the solar simulator for various velocities trated illumination: a critical review. Solar Energy Mater Solar Cells
of the surrounding air. 2005;86:451 –83.

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2011, 6, 299– 308 307

E. Cuce et al.

[18] Tonui JK, Tripanagnostopoulos Y. Performance improvement of PV/T [25] Joshi AS, Dincer I, Reddy BV. Performance analysis of photovoltaic
solar collectors with natural air flow operation. Solar Energy 2008;82:1– 12. systems: a review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2009;13:1884 –97.
[19] Tonui JK, Tripanagnostopoulos Y. Air-cooled PV/T solar collectors with [26] Incropera FP, DeWitt DP. Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, 6th
low cost performance improvements. Solar Energy 2007;81:498– 511. edn. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.
[20] Joshi AS, Dincer I, Reddy BV. Thermodynamic performance of a photo- [27] van Dyk EE, Meyer EL. Analysis of the effect of parasitic resistances on
voltaic system. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on the performance of photovoltaic modules. Renew Energy 2004;29:333– 44.
Energy Sustainability, Vol. 2, 33 –8, Jacksonville, USA, 2008. [28] Masters GM. Renewable and Efficient Electric Power Systems. John Wiley &
[21] Bejan A. Entropy Generation Through Heat and Fluid Flow. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004.
Sons, 1982. [29] McMahon TJ, Basso TS, Rummel SR. Cell shunt resistance and photovol-

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/6/4/299/665839 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan University user on 17 October 2020
[22] Cuce E. Determination of performance parameters of photovoltaic taic module performance. In: Proceedings of the 25th Photovoltaic
modules at different operating conditions. MS Thesis (in Turkish), Specialists Conference, 1291– 4, 1996.
Karadeniz Technical University, 2009. [30] Meyer EL. Investigation of properties and energy rating of photovoltaic
[23] Sahin AD, Dincer I, Rosen MA. Thermodynamic analysis of solar photo- modules. MS Thesis, University of Port Elizabeth, 2002.
voltaic cell systems. Solar Energy Mater Solar Cells 2007;91:153– 9. [31] Kumar P, Jain SC, Kumar JH, et al. Effect of illumination intensity and
[24] Joshi AS, Dincer I, Reddy BV. Thermodynamic assessment of photovoltaic temperature on open circuit voltage in organic solar cells. Appl Phys Lett
systems. Solar Energy 2009;83:1139 – 49. 2009;94:183505.

308 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2011, 6, 299– 308