The effects of water spray characteristics on the performance of a photovoltaic panel

The current study investigates the effect of water spray cooling on the performance of a photovoltaic panel (PV). The advantage of this method compared to other methods is it provides surface cleaning besides the cooling effects which affects the long-term performance of the panel. The performance of a PV panel is correlated to the temperature of the panel and increases by 0.35–0.7% for each degree drop in surface temperature depending on the solar radiation. The goal of this study is to examine the influence of various factors, including the formation and thickness of a water film on the surface of PV cells, the rate of water consumption, and the spray distance on the performance of the PV panel. The evaluation of the PV output power and electrical efficiency indicates that using an arrangement of nozzles with maximum film coverage and minimum overlap between nozzle streams delivers the best cooling performance. Specifically, it is observed that spraying by 5 nozzles with droplet diameters of 113, 49, and 32 μm, causes a mean enhancement in solar panel efficiency by 19.9%, 17.2%, and 15.7%, with a maximum of 22.72%, 18.62%, 16.87%, respectively. These findings underscore substantial opportunities for enhancing the electrical performance of PVs through using spray cooling.