Experimental study of natural convective heat transfer cooling system in solar panels

The main focus of this research is to develop a natural convective heat transfer cooling system for solar panels using an extended duct arrangement. During the photovoltaic conversion process, only a portion of the incident solar energy is turned into electricity; the remainder is transformed into heat, raising the temperature of the PV module. Reducing the panel temperature has a substantial impact on improving the solar panels’ voltage, current, and efficiency. Generally, the efficiency decreases with higher operating temperature in solar panels. Existing forced convection cooling methods consume the energy from the solar panel and reduce the total power from the solar panel. A natural convective heat transfer cooling system with a black coated extended duct arrangement generates buoyancy-driven airflow. The density gradient of airflow caused by strong natural convection induces the buoyancy force inside the duct using solar irradiation in the extended duct. Experiments were conducted in this study to enhance the heat transfer effect and improve the system’s overall efficiency. The experiment was divided into four case studies. The fourth case study of the back-plate covering the solar panel with black coated extended duct shows significant enhancement of current, voltage and overall efficiency of the solar panel.