Analysis of Immersion Depth in Cooling a Photovoltaic Module by Water Immersion: An Experimental Study

• Published in: International Journal of Pioneering Technology and Engineering Vol. 1; no. 1; pp. 28 - 31
• Main Authors: Burak Kurşun, Ayşe İşçi, Tunahan Ünügür, Okan Dartma, Mehmet Çelikkol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: levent 06.06.2022
• Subjects: cooling; experimental; immersion depth; photovoltaic thermal system
• ISSN: 2822-454X
• DOI: 10.56158/jpte.2022.21.1.01

Photovoltaic systems are one of the important methods used to obtain electricity from solar energy. Photovoltaic module temperature and the angle of incidence of solar radiation are the most important factors affecting the electrical energy obtained from the photovoltaic module. There are many experimental and numerical studies in the literature on increasing electricity production by cooling photovoltaic modules. Cooling with air, liquid, phase change materials, thermoelectric effect, and immersion in water are the commonly used cooling methods. In this study, the cooling of the photovoltaic module by the water immersion method was experimentally investigated. In addition to the results of the related studies in the literature, analyzes were made for different immersion depths and the most appropriate immersion depth was tried to be determined. Three scenarios, 5 cm, 20 cm, and 30 cm immersion depth were investigated in the immersion of the PV module in liquid. As a result of immersion of the PV module in water, the PV module temperature decreased, and the voltage output increased for all parameter values. The highest voltage increase was obtained for 5 cm immersion depth (7.85%). Although PV module temperatures decreased with increasing immersion depth, the voltage output decreased after 5 cm immersion depth.