The Experimental & comparative study of solar panel with and

without cooling system using paraffin wax as PCM

Review:
 In this paper, current advances in cooling techniques and temperature control of
photovoltaic (PV) panels in general, are analyzed and discussed.
 Namely, it is well known that a decrease in the panel temperature will lead to an
increase in electrical efficiency, so in recent years different cooling techniques
have been proposed and tested experimentally.
 The efficiency drops with the rise in temperature, with a magnitude of
approximately 0.5 %/°C. Several cooling techniques have been tried, mostly based
on active water and air cooling, as these are the simplest techniques.
 Other cooling techniques include conductive cooling, phase-change material
cooling, etc. Increase in electrical efficiency depends on cooling techniques, type
and size of the module, geographical position and the season of the year, and
usually corresponds with a rise of 3-5 % in overall efficiency.
 Finally, a perspective on the other cooling techniques for PV panels will be also
elaborated on and discussed in this paper.

1. Introduction:
Introduction Solar energy is one of the comparable alternate energy sources. Solar
energy is inexhaustible source of energy. The power from the sun intercepted by the
earth is approximately 1.8×1011MW which is larger than the present consumption
rate on the earth of all commercial energy sources. Thus, solar energy could be supply
all the present and future energy needs of the world on a continuing basis. This makes
it one of the most promising of the unconventional energy sources. A typical solar
panel module has ideal conversion efficiency in the range of 15%. The remaining
energy is converted into heat and this heat increases the operating temperature of solar
panel system which affects the electrical power production of solar panel modules and

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this can also cause the structural damage of solar panel modules leads to shorting its
life span and lowering conversion efficiency.

The output power of solar panel module drops due to rise in temperature, if heat is
not removed. The temperature of the solar cell generally reaches to the 80°C or more
when the solar cell is a silicon series solar cell. The various literatures reveal that cell
temperature has a remarkable effect on its efficiency. The temperature increase of
10C corresponds to the reduction of the photoelectric conversion efficiency by 0.2%-
0.5%. Various studies have been conducted in order to improve the solar panel
conversion efficiency; among these cooling provides a good solution for the low
efficiency problem.

Both water and air are suitable as the cooling fluid to cool the solar panel module in
order to avoid the drop of electrical efficiency. Performance of a solar-photovoltaic
(solar panel) system not only depends on its basic electrical characteristics; maximum
power, tolerance rated value %, maximum power voltage, maximum power current,
open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, maximum system voltage, but also is
negatively influenced by several obstacles such as ambient temperature, relative
humidity, dust storms and suspension in air, shading, global solar radiation intensity,
spectrum and angle of irradiance. There are several reasons which motivate the
development of the solar panel system.

One of the main reasons is that solar panel system can provide higher efficiency than
individual solar panel and thermal collector system. With increased the efficiency, the
payback period of the system can also be shortened. Many efforts have been made to
find an efficient cooling technology by analyzing the performance of solar cells using
different technologies and various cooling liquids. The technique used in this study is
the cooling of solar panel back side using air as the coolant. The main focus of this
work is on comparison of the electrical conversion efficiency of the solar panel with

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The Experimental & comparative study of solar panel with and
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and without cooling at optimum flow rate. PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT

OFSOLAR PANEL Dept of Mechanical, BITM Page 2 Potential of solar radiation in
India Solar energy is the most ancient source, and it is the root material for almost all
fossil and renewable types. Among the renewable energy sources, solar energy come
at the tops of the least due to its abundance, more even distribution than any other
renewable energy types such as wind, geothermal, hydro, wave and tidal energies.

Approximately 1% of words desert area utilized by solar thermal power plants would
be sufficient to generate the words entire electricity demand. India receives good
annual radiation despite having several climatic zones however the Indian economy is
heavily dependent on fossil fuels that are largely imported, with this background India
began its exploration of renewable energy over three decades ago and is endowed
with vast solar energy potential. About 5000 trillion KWH per energy is incident over
India’s land area with most part receiving 4-7 KWH per square meter per day. In most
parts of India, clear sunny weather is experienced 250 to 300 days a year. India
densely populated receiving an annual global radiation of 1600 to 2200 KWH/m
providing an ideal combination for solar power in India.

In solar energy sector, some large projects have been proposed, and a 35000 km area
of Thar desert has been set asset for solar power projects, sufficient to generate 700-
2100 GW. Whereas the energy consumption in the state is anticipated to be around
64000MU per annum by 2015. At present, renewable energy sources contribute to
about 4600MU of energy per annum(11.5%) put of the total 40000MU available from
various installed capacities. To achieve a 20% share, the renewable energy sources are
required to contribute 12800MU by 2014. This necessitates a renewable energy
capacity edition of 6600MW by 2014. A clear cut policy is, therefore, essential to
regulate and ensures speedy development of renewable energy

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The Experimental & comparative study of solar panel with and
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Figure 1 Schematic PV coupled with PCMT

Photovoltaic solar panels absorb sunlight as a source of energy to

generate electricity. A photovoltaic (PV) module is a packaged, connected assembly
of typically 6x10 photovoltaic solar cells. Photovoltaic modules constitute the
photovoltaic array of a photovoltaic system that generates and supplies solar
electricity in commercial and residential applications.

Renewable More than 80% of solar radiation falling on the PV cells is not converted
to electric energy but either reflected or converted to thermal energy. This leads to an
increase in the PV cell’s working temperature and consequently, a drop of electricity
conversion efficiency.

In the Photovoltaic solar technology, a panel consists of many solar cells is used. A
solar cell is a semiconductor device that directly converts the energy from sunlight
into electrical energy through a process of photovoltaic.

The PV cell converts only a small fraction (~less than 20%) of the radiation into
electrical energy; the remaining part of the energy is reflected or heats the cell. One of
the important parameters that affect the energy output of the PV module is the
operating temperature.

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The efficiency of the solar panel depend upon the three factors; the intensity of the
solar radiation flux, the quality of the semi conductor in use, and the operating
temperature of the semi conductor cell. For the PV panels, high operating temperature
create a drop in the conversion rate about 0.5% per Celsius degree over the nominal
cell operating temperature of 25 degree Celsius as defined by the industry standard
STC( Standard Test Conditions).

The most efficient way to obtain the electrical energy from the direct Solar irradiance
via photovoltaic cell(PV cell) although the overall efficiency of PV cell ranges from
about 5%-20%, it is still higher than the total indirect efficiency when it comes to
wind and bio mass efficiency .

PCM’s are materials that undergo reversible transition of phase depending on their
temperature. They absorb or reject the heat in the process. When the panel’s
temperature rises, the excess heat must be absorbed until the PCM completely melted.
During summer time the PCM with a melting temperature between 28°c and 32°c can
improve the energy conversion efficiency by around 20%.

Paraffin wax is a soft colorless solid, derived from petroleum, coal or oil shale, is a
mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between twenty and forty carbon atoms.
It is solid at room temperature and begins to melt above approximately 37 °C
(99 °F);[1] its boiling point is >370 °C
(698 °F). Common applications for paraffin wax
include lubrication, electrical insulation,
and candles; [3] dyed paraffin wax can be made
into crayons. It is distinct from kerosene and other
petroleum products that are sometimes called paraffin.

In chemistry, paraffin is used synonymously Figure 2 Paraffin wax

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The Experimental & comparative study of solar panel with and
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with alkane, indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. The name is
derived from Latin parum ("barely") + affinis, meaning "lacking affinity" or
"lacking reactivity", referring to paraffin's unreactive nature.

2. LITERATURE SURVEY:

1) ER Manoj kumar
 Excessive heat significantly reduces the overall efficiency of the solar panel. As
the temperature increases the voltage output decreases linearly. Hence to counter
this problem cooling system is placed so as to eliminate excessive heating of the
panel.
 In this system coolant used is the water the water is made to flow over the surface
of the panel
 Poly crystaslline solar panel is used area 60cm*60cm load is connected to the
panel readings of voltage and current are taken using multimeter every 15min for
5days and average is taken .
 They compared with the graph of without any cooling system and with cooling
system.
 Free flow front water cooling of PV panels can improve the efficiency and
reliability of photovoltaic energy conversion – the open voltage of the panels is
increasing when its temperature decreasing and due to the lower operating
temperature, its life cycle could be increase.

2) D. Revati and E. Natarajan, (Enhancing the efficiency of solar cell by air cooling)
 The main objective of the present work is to investigate an effect of the
temperature on the performance of the solar cell.

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The Experimental & comparative study of solar panel with and
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 In order to accomplish this study, solar panel has been tested under three different
conditions such as, solar panel without cooling, solar panel placed in grass field
and solar panel with air cooling. During testing, solar cell parameters such as open
circuit voltage, short circuit current, surface temperature, panel temperature and
ambient temperature have been observed.
 The results obtained clearly show that solar panel with air cooling has generated
the maximum open circuit voltage and short circuit current while comparing to
other two test conditions.
 For every 15 minutes, solar panel has been made to cool with air so as to decrease
the temperature rise of the solar panel.
 Based on the test results, it could be concluded that solar panel integrated with air
cooling system is expected to achieve higher electrical efficiency owing to
improved power generation.

3) Filip Grubisic-Cabo, Sandro Nizetic and Tina Giuseppe Marco

 The present work could be beneficial to understand the effect of temperature on
the cell parameters and performance of the solar panel. Different cooling
techniques have been examined and compared.
 It was shown that active cooling techniques, as expected, have higher efficiency
than passive ones. In several cases, however, passive cooling can replace active
cooling, in order to save the installation costs. Such specific cases are mainly
usage of PCM material and usage of small concentrated PV cells.
 Also, when pumping costs are taken into account, especially for back side cooling,
passive techniques can sometimes yield more power gain than active ones. If PV/T
system is to be used, active cooling system is the best solution which will enable
the usage of waste heat. It was shown that active water cooling is the best choice
when increasing electrical efficiency is the main goal. Therefore, research aim in
the future should be implementation of effective active water cooling of PV panel.

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 Additional solar panel at the water outlet can be proposed to increase water outlet
temperature, thus increasing overall efficiency. For reducing pumping costs, front
surface cooling is proposed as more economical solution, especially in hot climate
conditions. One obvious drawback of front side cooling could be water
evaporation, which would require continuous replenishment of evaporated water.

4) Adam M. Palumbo
 In this experiments proved that the heat sinks do indeed have a lowering effect on
the solar panel temperature. Sink 1 was shown to perform slightly better than Sink
2. However, each sink only performed slightly better than the bare panel at wind
speeds greater than zero. With stagnant air, the heat sinks actually performed
worse as they began acting like an insulator.
 Even with constant wind, it would not be economically feasible to purchase a
machined aluminum heat sink if the benefit is as small as the experiments showed.
Therefore, it is best to go with the previously mentioned cooling method using
water and a pump.
 The price of a pump would be significantly cheaper than purchasing an aluminum
heat sink. The energy needed to power the pump would be minimal. Some of the
energy saved from keeping the solar panel cooler could actually be used to power
the pump.
 This would negate the need for an external power supply, thus simplifying the
entire system. Perhaps the largest benefit would arise from the system’s ability to
be adjusted in order to keep the solar panel surface as cool as desired. However,
more research and experimental work must be done in the pump

5) Abdelrahman. M, Eliwa. A, Abdellatif. O.E

 Drop in photovoltaic efficiency due to increase in module surface temperature can
be reduced by cooling of the photovoltaic module using different cooling

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techniques. The present study examines the performance of photovoltaic module

during three cooling models; film cooling, back cooling and combined film back
cooling model.
 Results of present work showed that by applying the cooling models the module
surface temperature decreased causing an increase in output voltage and
consequently the electrical efficiency and output power increased.
 In the front cooling; the water refractive index is 1.3 which is intermediate
between the glasses (nglass=1.5) and air (nair=1.0) . According to the reflection
equation

R=(n2-n1/n2+n1)2

 The water can be used as antireflection coating material that reduce the reflection
by 2- 3.6 % in the visible region besides keeping the module surface clean. But the
back cooling technique reduce the temperature more efficient than the front
technique and therefore more power can be saved.
 So we try applying the two techniques together to benefit from the advantage of
each one. Consequently the Combined back & front cooling system give the best
results for increasing the output power from PV module.

6) M Mohamed Musthafa

 A novel sponge arrangement at back side of solar panel for cooling is proved
better results
 . The results indicate that under cooling condition, the temperature can be reduced
to effectively increase the photoelectric conversion efficiency of solar panel.

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 Compared with the ordinary solar panel, the water cooling arrangement reduces
cell temperature maximally by 40C, the output power increases maximally by
6.4%, and increase in output efficiency by 2.6%.
 The very low cost of water absorption sponge may be used as component for solar
panel cooling for enhancing photoelectric conversion efficiency.
 Simple attachment and life of the sponge is also six month.
 Replacement of the sponge is easy and quick.

7) R Thaib, S Rizal, M Riza, T M I Mahlia, T A Rizal

 One of the main obstacles faced during the operation of photovoltaic (PV) panels
was overheating due to excessive solar radiation and high ambient temperatures.
 In this research, investigates the use of beeswax phase change materials (PCM) to
maintain the temperature of the panels close to ambient. Solar panels used in this
study has 839 mm length, 537 mm wide, and 50 mm thick, with maximum output
power at 50 W.
 During the study, there were two solar panels was evaluated, one without phase
change material while the other one was using beeswax phase change material.
 Solar panels were mounted at 15o slope. Variables observed was the temperature
of solar panel’s surface, output voltage and current that produced by PV panels,
wind speed around solar panels, and solar radiation. The observation was started at
07:00 am and ended at 06:00 pm.
 The research shows that maximum temperature of solar panels surface without
phase change material is ranging between 46-49 o C, and electrical efficiency is
about 7.2-8.8%. Meanwhile, for solar panels with beeswax phase change material,
the maximum temperature solar panels surface is relatively low ranging between
33-34 o C, and its electrical efficiency seems to increase about 9.1-9.3%.

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 The graphic shows that maximum intensity of solar radiation was achieved at
12.00 pm which is at 1024 W/m2 , followed by a maximum temperature of PV
panel surface without PCM at 62oC.
 The significant impact of lowering surface temperature is shown during PCM
cooling, where maximum temperature was only at 60.4oC. As a comparison, PV
panel without PCM recorded that during 09:00 am to 02:00 pm, the temperature
rose up to 28oC, while PV panels with PCM only 11oC. Beeswax has a better
ability to absorb heat compared to the paraffin wax.
But drawback is that beeswax is costlier compared to paraffin wax.

3. Problem statement:
 A typical solar panel module has ideal conversion efficiency in the range of 15%.

 The remaining energy is converted into heat and these heat increases the operating
temperature of the solar panel system which effects the electrical power
production of solar panel module.

 Also cause damage of solar modules lead to shortening in life span and lowering
conversion efficiency.

 To encounter this problem, a cooling system using paraffin wax as a phase change
material is used.

4. Objective:
 To control the temperature of the solar panel using paraffin wax as a PCM.
 To compare the power output of the PVC with and without cooling system.
 To improve the power output of the system by regulating undesirable temperature
increase, minimize the non-uniformity of the temperature and acts as a heat sink.
 Test the output of the solar panel at different temperature and time.
 Study of the Photovoltaic cell with different amount of PCM.

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5. Methodology

Figure 3 schematic diagram of experimental setup

Figure 4 Methodology flow chart

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The Experimental & comparative study of solar panel with and
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 In order to conduct a comparative assessment, two similar multi-crystalline PV

panels were used in this experimental study.
 One of the panels was naturally cooled by the surrounding air while the other was
passively cooled by using PCMT.
 In this experimental prototype, a simple thermal coupling of a PCMTS at the rear
of the panel was implemented.
 This PCMT- coupled panel is referred as a “PV-PCM” system .The PCMT
consisted of a simple rectangular containment filled with PCM. This containment
was fully sealed with silicone sealant to avoid leakage of melted PCM.
 The containment was made of Alluminium and had a high thermal conductivity
(~200 W/m K).
 The waste heat accumulated at the rear side of the PV panel was transmitted to the
PCMT for heat absorption. The PCM used in the experiment was paraffin wax .
 The paraffin wax has a melting temperature of 27 °C, is non-corrosive and has
high latent heat storage capacity (184 kJ/kg) which makes it attractive for use in
the PCMTS. Due to the fact that the thermal expansion of the PCM was
approximately 16 % at 40 °C (liquid state), the paraffin wax was charged to 80 %
of the containment volume to allow thermal expansion during heat absorption.
 The remaining 4 % of the containment volume allowed for thermal expansion if
the PCM temperature exceeded 40 °C. Figs. show the
inner configurations of the PCMTS filled and pre-filled
containment” .
 The experiment was set up in an outdoor location in
order to evaluate the passive cooling performance and
the electrical power output improvement. The outdoor
test arrangement is shown in Fig.

Figure 5 Outdoor setup

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 The main components of the experimental setup were two identical PV panels (BP
Solar, model: SX320M) and paraffin wax as a PCMT. which were thermally
coupled at the rear of the PV panel during testing.
 T-type thermocouples were used on the test rig for capturing all monitored
temperatures at 30 seconds intervals.

6. Possible outcomes

 We will be able to control the temperature of the solar panel.

 The efficiency of the solar panel is increased.

 The output of the solar panel at different temperature and time is analyzed.

 The optimum amount of PMC in cooling system is found.

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7. Reference:
[1]. Mrs. Rupali Nazar review on “Improvement of efficiency of solar panel using
different”, International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, ISSN-2321-2055
(E)IJEEE,Volume 07,Issue 01, January June 2015

[2]. Mr. Sayaran A. Abdulgafer et al. review article on “Improving the efficiency of
polycrystalline solar panel by water emersion method” International Journal for
innovative research in science, ISSN 2319-8753, Volume 3, Issue 01, January – 2014

[3]. Mr. B.Balamuralikrishnan et al. review article on “Efficiency enhancement of

photovoltaic cell” International Journal of Electrical Electronics Instrumentation
Engineering ISSN 2320-3765 , Volume 03, Issue 04, May-2014

[4]. Mr. Saurabh Mehrotra et al. review article on “Performance of a solar panel with
water immersion cooling technique” International Journal of Science, Environment ISSN
2278-3687 (O), Volume 3, No 3, 2014, 1161 – 1172

[5]. Jiang JA, Wang JC, Kuo KC, Su YL, Shieh JC, Chou JJ. Analysis of the junction
temperature and thermal characteristics of photovoltaic modules under various operation
conditions. Energy. 2012 Aug; 44(1):292–301.

[6]. Dupeyrat P, Menezo C, Rommel M, Henning HM. Efficient single glazed flat plate
Photovoltaic–Thermal hybrid collector for domestic hot water system. Solar Energy.
2011 Jul; 85(7):1457–68.

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