Modelamiento y Simulación de un sistema de refrigeración para paneles fotovoltaicos por convección forzada de agua

Abstract

Photovoltaic solar energy is one of the most used within alternative energies. One of the major drawbacks with the photovoltaic solar energy is its low conversion efficiency. Photovoltaic solar energy is one of the most used within alternative energies. The electrical efficiency decreases with an increase in the PV cell temperature. The objective of this study is to develop a mathematical model for the evaluation of different cooling systems in order to determine which one offers better results. The cooling techniques chosen for the evaluation were water cooled PV systems with tubes attached to its rear surface working as a flat plate collector. Three alternatives were chosen as cooling techniques and a mathematical model was developed for each one of the techniques. The evaluated cooling configurations were circular tubes, channels and spiral tube system. The three configurations were compared in terms of different variables such as mass flow rate, number of tubes or steps and hydraulic diameter. With these considerations it is concluded that the cooling technique trough channels has a better performance and efficiency. Spiral tube system reaches higher PV panel temperatures compared to the other two cooling techniques. In spite of this, the spiral tube system provides a greater water outlet temperature compared to the channels and tubes system.