Study on performance enhancement of PV cells by water spray cooling for the climatic conditions of Coimbatore, Tamilnadu

Solar energy is one of the freely available energy obtained from nature and among the various established means of solar energy utilization, PV technology is a promising one. However, the feeble conversion efficiency of these PV cells which is around 4-17% is highly impaired by the increase in panel temperature during operation which not only results in reduced electrical output but also in the thermal degradation of the panel. In this study, a theoretical study on cooling of PV panel using a spray of water over the front of the panel to maintain its temperature near to the nominal PV operating temperature (NPVOT) is performed. The influence on mass flow rate of water flowing over the panel is also studied. It is found that the PV panel can be cooled to NPVOT from the maximum temperature in less than 5 minutes with the water flow rate of 1.5 kg/min. The efficiency of the PV panel is found to increase by 3% when compared to that of the efficiency of a conventional panel without cooling.