Improvements on the Efficiency of the Photovoltaic Panel by Integrating a Spray Cooling System with Shallow Geothermal Energy Heat Exchanger
Abstract
A spray cooling system with shallow geothermal energy is experimentally investigated to mitigate the photovoltaic (PV) panel efficiency decline problem, which is due to high temperatures. This cooling system is utilized to cool PV panels by spraying water on the back of the panel, and a tank is used to reclaim the cooling water. To enhance the cooling capacity, the recycled water is poured into U-shaped borehole heat exchanger (UBHE), which is installed in existing well, and the water exchanges heat with the shallow geothermal energy. Finally, the recycled cooling water is sprayed again to cool the panel. The experiments contain three parts: The first is the PV panel operation without any cooling system. The second is the panel operation with the cooling system but without the UBHE. The third is the cooling system operation with the UBHE. The results of experiments show that this cooling system can improve the efficiency of PV panels about 8.2%.