Self-cleaning PV system with active cooling technology

• An international research study group has actually created a self-cooling PV system including a 250 W 60-cell polycrystalline component and a thermal enthusiast attached to the back side of the panel. The cleaning technology is based upon a microcontroller programmable integrated circuit, which manages a rotating DC electric motor.

Researchers from Malaysia's Sunway University, the University of Malaya, China's Peking University, and also India's Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University have actually developed a PV system geared up with an active cooling system and cleaning modern technology. Both systems were developed as well as connected to the photovoltaic panel individually.

The PV system contains a 250 W 60-cell polycrystalline module and a thermal collector connected to the rear end of the panel, with the enthusiast ensuring optimum coverage of the PV module's warmed surface. The collection agency was made with copper pipes put on the back of the panel in a double-serpentine configuration, by utilizing copper retainers as well as thermally conductive paste.

The researchers examined five different phase-change materials (PCM) to cool down the panel. They found that lauric acid provided the best results, partially as a result of its high melting point.

The cleaning technology is based upon a microcontroller programmable incorporated circuit (IC), which controls a DC electric motor that revolves in an onward or reverse placement. There are two various electric motors-- one to power a small water pump as well as a 24V-2A DC electric motor that moves a cleaner on the surface of the PV panel.

" The main part of the self-cleaning system is the sweeper that makes up a microfiber fabric and also a water flowline with a12-V,9- mA DC water pump," the academics explained.

The sweeper moves along an aluminum framework installed beside the module. "The structure is constructed from hollow aluminum rectangular tube, it was designed individually and after that placed on an iron framework to ensure that the sweeper can relocate easily," researcher Adarsh Kumar Pandey told pv magazine. "It is really simple to apply and also a normal installer can install it."

The scientists compared the efficiency of the PV system to a common PV installation at the University of Malaya in Malaysia. When the ordinary ambient temperature level was 31.76 C and also optimal solar radiation got to 981 W/sqm, the temperature of the system they produced was 11.14 C less than that of the standard system.

This strong temperature level drop is because of the mixed effect of the cooling modern technology placed on the back of the panel and that of the water dispersing onto the component's front side with the cleansing system. "The optimum cell temperature level distinction can be discovered after the cleaning procedure," the researchers explained.

After cleaning, when cell temperatures climb, the warmth is absorbed by the cooling system again. The PCM uses up to two hours to melt and store the heat at common degrees after the cleaning procedures are ended up.

The study team explains the PV system in Self-cleaning helped photovoltaic system with thermal power storage: Design and performance analysis, which was just recently released in Solar Energy and on the ScienceDirect web site.