Thermodynamic analysis of new concepts for enhancing cooling of PV panels for grid-connected PV systems

The temperature rise in photovoltaic cells causing drop in their open-circuit voltage is a serious issue to be dealt with. A wide range of cooling techniques have been proposed by researchers due to its positive results on electrical efficiency during operation. One of the prominent techniques in the field is using a hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) design which in turns utilizes a working fluid to extract the heat from the collector. Various PV/T designs have been proposed, most prominently nanofluid and nanofluid with nano-PCM-based PV/T. This paper aims to evaluate the two techniques of cooling a grid-connected PV system and examines the systems electrical and combined efficiency, in addition to performing exergy analysis. The two systems are experimentally tested for outdoors conditions in Bangi, Malaysia. The results show the two systems achieving highest electrical exergies of 73 and 74.52 for nanofluid and nanofluid with nano-PCM, respectively. Both systems achieved higher exergies than water-cooled and conventional GCPV.