Using Polyethylene Glycol, as a Phase Change Material and fins for the Cooling of Photovoltaic Cells of the Crystalline Type

Nowadays, using of renewable sources are popular methods to generating energy. Photovoltaic (PV) technology is one of the most popular ways to producing power. In hot days of year, which the maximum irradiation of sun is available, because of the temperature value is high, the efficiency of PV cells is falls down. In this paper, in order to decrease the temperature of PV cells, using Polyethylene-Glycol 600 (PEG-600) as phase change material (PCM), for cooling the PV panel was studied. The results show the positive effect of fins on controlling the temperature of photovoltaic cells. Moreover, in order to increasing the rate of melting the PCM, integrating some fins was investigated too. The panel with PCM included, in about 80 mins of the end of test, had a same temperature with the conventional panel, as well as panel with both PCM and fins, at the end of experiment, had a temperature difference of about 9°C compared with conventional panel. Furthermore, the maximum efficiency difference between the panel with PCM and panel with PCM + fins, were about 2.4 % and 4.6 %, respectively. This means that fins, due to the increased amount of heat exchange between the panel and PCM, has been able to play an important role to increasing the efficiency and controlling the temperature of the panel. Finally, for economic and industrial feasibility of the proposed prototypes, the economical estimation is also presented.