The Hashemite University

Faculty of Engineering

Department of Electrical Engineering

Graduation Project

A Dynamic Design for a temperature controlled water

cooling system for PV Modules.

Group Members:

Hamza Smadi
Nader Salem
Ammar Tommalieh
Alaa Mannoun
Abdullah Abodi

Supervised by :

Dr. Anas Al-Tarabsheh

 Wed like to thank doctor Anas Al-Tarabsheh for his
effort to help us achieve this project.

And wed like to give special thanks to Al-Hosson College

for providing measurement tools to be used in our project.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract IV

CHAPTER (1): Introduction

1.1 Over view 1
1.2 PV cells 2
1.3 PV Panels 3
1.4 Types PV Systems 4
1.5 Temperature Effect on PV Cells 6

CHAPTER (2): Solar Cells Types

2.1 Brief description about solar cells types 8
2.1.1 Monocrystalline Solar Cells 8
2.1.2 Polycrystalline Solar Cells 9
2.1.3 Thin Film Solar Cells 10
2.2 Cooling Types and Effects 11

CHAPTER (3): Design and Analysis

3.1 preview 12
3.2 Methodology of Design A 13
3.3 Simulation of Design A 15
3.4 A Comparison Between Design A and B 21

CHAPTER (4): MATLAB Simulation

4.1 Design A 23
4.2 Design B 24

CHAPTER (5): Methodology 24

5.1 Design A using iron tubes 24
5.2 Design A using iron pipes 25
5.3 Design A using copper pipes 26
5.4 Procedure 28
5.5 Measurement Tools 29
5.6 Results 32
Conclusion 35
Appendix 36

i
 List of Figures

Figure 1: A typical module has a 36 cells connected in series. 3

Figure 2: J/V characteristic of single cell, 5 cells in series and 5 cells in parallel. 4

Figure 3: On-Grid PV System. 5

Figure 4: Off-Grid PV System. 6

Figure 5: The effect of temperature on the JV characteristic curve. 7

Figure 6: Monocrystalline Panel 9

Figure 7: Polycrystalline Panel 10

Figure 8: Thin film Panel 11

Figure 9: Design A of cooling pipes of PV panel of N series-connected solar cells. 13

Figure 10: PV cell temperature T PV as a function of both ambient temperatures Tamb and 14
incomming solar radiation G.

Figure 11: The J/V, P/V Characteristic of a single solar cell. 16

Figure 12: The J/V characteristic of a single cell and a module without cooling. 17

Figure 13: The effect of the temperature on V oc , V mpp , I mpp and . 18

Figure 14: .a. The J/V characteristics for 36 cells and for the whole module without cooling. 19

b..The J/V characteristic of 36 cells and for the whole module with cooling.

Figure 15: The electric efficiency of each PV cell (N=1 to N=36). 20

Figure 16: Decreasing Tb = 70 C to 40 C while fixing T a = 30 C enhances V oc , FF and then . 20

Figure 17: Design B of cooling pipes of PV panel of N series-connected solar cells. 21

Figure 18: The efficiency of each cooled cell in the module using the two designs 22

Figure 19: The J/V characteristic of the cooled module after cooling using the two designs 22

Figure 20: Design A using iron tubes. 25

Figure 21: Design A using iron pipes. 26

Figure 22: Design A using copper pipes. 27

ii
Figure 23: PV Analyzer. 29
Figure 24: IR Camera 30

Figure 25: Illumination meter. 30

Figure 26: The illumination vs. the average operating temperature of the PV module. 31

Figure 27: Voc vs. operating temperature of the PV module. 32

Figure 28: Isc vs. operating temperature of the PV module. 32

Figure 29: Vmpp vs. operating temperature of the PV module. 33

Figure 30: Impp vs. operating temperature of the PV module. 33

Figure 31: I-V characteristics curve for the PV module at five flow rates and illuminations. 34

iii
 Abstract:
Our world is facing a serious problem, fossil fuel is running
out due to extensive use, therefor scientists are working in
research labs in order to achieve such a clean technology
that generates power to be used in life applications.

One of these technologies is PV solar cells, they generate

electrical power by exploitation of sun rays to be used in a
way to generate voltage and current.

The efficiency of the PV modules is heavily affected by the

high operating temperature of the PV module.

Our project is focusing on designing a cooling system for PV

modules which will decrease the operating temperature of
them, as a result the efficiency will increase.

The main aims of our project is to study the effect of

temperature on the efficiency, water flow in the pipes and
the temperature distribution on the cells of the PV module.

IV
CHAPTER (1)
Introduction:

1.1 Over View:

Energy is a measure of the ability of a system to do work or produce a change,
expressed usually in joules or kilowatt hours (kWh). No activity is possible without energy
and its total amount in the universe is fixed. In other words, it cannot be created or destroyed
but can only be changed from one type to another.

There are many different forms of energy such as:

1.Mechanical energy. 2.Potential energy. 3.Kinetic energy.
4. Thermal energy. 5.Magnetic energy. 6.Electrical energy.
7.Radiation energy. 8.Nuclear energy. 9.Chemical energy.

Energy resources:
1.Fossil energy resources such as hard and brown coal, oil and natural gas
2.Nuclear energy resources such as nuclear fission and nuclear fusion
3.Sustainable energy resources such as solar energy, geothermal energy and planetary energy

Solar energy:
The sun is a vast nuclear power plant of the fusion variety and by far the largest energy
resource. Annually, 3.9x10^24 J = 1.08*10^18 kWh of solar energy reaches the surface of the
earth. This is about ten thousand times more than the annual global primary energy demand
and much more than all available energy reserves.

1
1.2 PV cells
Photovoltaic is a method of technology to produce a direct current (DC) from a
semiconductor materials by converting the radiation of sun rays into electrical energy, the
relation between the produced current and the radiation of sun rays is direct proportional.

There are many types of photovoltaic cells such as:

1- Crystalline Silicon cells:

A- Monocrystalline.
B- Polycrystalline.

2- Thin Film cells

1- Crystalline Silicon cells:

In crystals, the atoms are arranged in near-perfect, regular arrays or Lattices.

A- Mono-crystalline silicon:

Its made of only pure silicon and this type is used in high performance solar cells
manufacturing. This type is also often replaced by the cheaper polycrystalline or multi-
crystalline silicon [1]. Mono-crystalline solar cells can achieve 21% efficiency [2]. Whereas
other types of less expensive cells including thin film and polycrystalline are only capable of
achieving around 10% efficiency [3]. And it has a regular color appearance.

B- Poly-crystalline silicon:

Its a material consisted of small silicon crystalline. This type has irregular color appearance,
and the efficiency of this type is less than the mono crystalline cells and more than the Thin-
Film cells.

2- Thin-Film solar cell (TFSC):

It is made by depositing one or more thin layers of photovoltaic material and the thickness
range are varying from nanometers to a few micrometers. This type has many advantages
such as flexibility and low cost compared with other types of cells. The efficiency of the thin
film is a 9% maximum.

2
1.3 PV Panels:

The individual cell can provide small output voltage and output current, for example it
may provide output voltage equals to 0.6 volt and current equals to 35 mA, to increase these
values the individual cells could be connected with each other in parallel and/or in series to
form a PV panel that produce a higher voltage and current and then a higher power.

Most of panels are consist of 36 cells in series as a typical panel. However the
interconnection of the cells is packaged to protect them from the environmental conditions,
electrical shock and to give the module a mechanical strength.

Figure1: A typical module has a 36 cells connected in series

Supposing that all cells have the same electrical parameters, Figure 1 shows the JV
characteristic of one cell, the JV characteristic of five cells connected in series, that means the
total voltage is the summation of all voltages while the current still the same (i.e. the
minimum cell current) and the JV characteristic of five cells are connected in parallel, that
means the total current will be the summation of all currents while the voltage still the same
(i.e. the minimum cell voltage).

3
 Figure 2: J/V characteristic of single cell, 5 cells in series and 5 cells in parallel

To achieve the highest output power from the panels we should mount them with specific
angles such as tilt angle and azimuth angle.

The range of the tilt angle is from 0 to 90 while the range of the azimuth angle is from 0 to
180 degrees or equivalent to -90 to 90 degrees.

1.4 Types of PV Systems:

The PV systems can be classified for many types depending on the purpose of the
application and the requirements of the project as On-Grid system and Off-Grid system.

1- On-Grid PV System (Grid Connected):

The On-Grid PV System is a system that is connected to the utility grid and it is consisted of
PV panels, DC and AC Cabling, Inverters, Utility service and bidirectional electricity meter
that count the kilo watt hours in two directions which are from PV system to the utility grid
and vice versa if the output power of the PV system doesnt meet the application demands.

In this type of PV systems there is no need to use storage elements (Batteries) while the
utility grid works as a backup for the PV system, in special cases when the application is very
sensitive and the electrical power must be supplied continuously such as hospitals, we can

4
use a storage elements (Batteries) as a backup if the electricity from the utility grid is not
available.

Figure 3: On-Grid PV System

2- Off-Grid PV System (Stand alone System):

The Off-Grid System is a system that completely independent of the utility grid, so using
batteries is a must regardless to the type of the application.

Like the On-Grid system, the Off-Grid system consists of PV panels, DC and AC Cabling,
Inverter, Unidirectional electricity meter, Batteries and charge controller

A charge controller used to regulate the charging and discharging processes depending on the
type of the batteries.

The batteries here are essential unit of the system when it work as a storage elements, on the
other hand the cost of the system will be increased due to the cost of batteries, charge
controller and the maintenance of batteries and the whole system.

5
 Figure 4: Off-Grid PV System

1.5 Temperature effect on PV cells:

Photovoltaic cell operation performance is highly sensitive for environmental
conditions such as temperature, solar irradiance, shading and angle of irradiance.

Photovoltaic cell efficiency is affected by temperature, where the efficiency of a Photovoltaic

cell is the ratio between the output power that generated by the cell to the input power
(provided by the solar irradiance).

The global solar irradiance power provided at the atmosphere is equal to 1376W/m2, and due
to the scattering and diffusion of the solar rays, the irradiance power provided for the
Photovoltaic cell approximately is equal to 1000W/m2 multiplied by the area of the PV cell.
The output power of a Photovoltaic cell is equal to the multiplication of the output voltage
and the output current.

6
 Figure 5: The effect of temperature on the J/V characteristic curve.

The semiconductor devices are highly affected by temperature; therefore solar cell
parameters are affected by temperature.

The open circuit voltage is highly affected by the increase of temperature, in the cooling
section we will provide a plot using simulation software that will show the decrease of the
open circuit voltage with the increase of the temperature.

7
CHAPTER (2)
The Cooling Effect on the Solar Cells Operation:
2.1 Brief description about solar cells types:
There are many types of solar cells, and the classification of these types depends on
the row material of fabrication, the temperature that applied in the fabrication process and the
arrangement of the atoms in the material itself.

These types are different in many properties and also have different characteristics, such as
open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, efficiency and fill factor.

The choosing of the solar cells depends on many factors such as the desired output power, the
available area and the structure specifications that the solar cells will be mounted on.

In this chapter we will make a comparison between different types of solar cells such as
single crystalline solar cells, poly crystalline solar cells and thin film solar cells.

2.1.1 Crystalline Silicon (c-Si)

90% of the Photovoltaic market is based on crystalline silicon (c-Si), so the silicon
used in many shapes to consist varies solar cells.

Why we use silicon? Because silicon has most perfect aligned of molecules so it will be
better in converting the sun power into electrical power.

There are two types of crystalline silicon; mono-crystalline and poly-crystalline.

1- Monocrystalline solar cells:

Its called single-crystalline solar cell, we can recognize mono-crystalline from the
external appearance, for example it has a uniform color because of high purity of silicon
material.

Mono-crystalline made from a molten poly crystalline silicon at high temperature and a seed
of single crystalline silicon is used to form a cylindrical rod of mono crystalline silicon, this
whole process is done in a chamber and its called Czochralski process, then this cylindrical
material is cut into wafers.

8
 Figure 6: Monocrystalline Panel

Advantages:

1- High efficiency (15-20%)

2- Less space compare to other types
3- Long life period (usually up to 25 years)

Disadvantages:

1- Most expensive
2- To manufacture it, we use Czochralski process so we will cut the four sides of the
cylindrical rod and that means we will lose an amount of silicon, but this amount
could be reused as a seed material to produce mono crystalline silicon again.

2.1.2 Polycrystalline solar cells:

Its called multi-crystalline solar cell, we can recognize the poly-crystalline from the
external appearance, for example it has a non-uniform color. The fabrication process of the
poly crystalline is done by melting the raw silicon and then fills it in a containers that makes
the shape in a form of cuboids, after cooling, the cutting process will produce a poly
crystalline wafers as a mono crystalline.

9
 Figure 7 : Polycrystalline Panel

Advantages

1- Simple manufacturing process

2- Less cost

Disadvantages

1- Low efficiency compared to mono-crystalline (13-16%)

2- High space compare to mono-crystalline
3- It can affected by heat more easily than mono-crystalline

2.1.3 Thin Film Solar Cells

Thin film can manufacture by depositing a PV material on a substrate, and depending on
the material that being deposited on the substrate there are many types of thin film:

1- Amorphous silicon [a-Si]

2- Cadmium telluride [CdTe]
3- Copper indium gallium selenide [CIGS]
4- Organic photovoltaic cells

10
 Figure 8: Thin film Panel

Advantages

1- Simple Manufacturing process

2- Flexible
3- The effect of high temperature and shading is less than the other types
4- In case we have a large space, the thin film is a very good choice.

Disadvantages:

1- Needs a large space.

2- Efficiency is low when a small area is available.
3- Decompose faster than poly-crystalline and mono-crystalline.
4- The efficiencies of the thin film solar cell ranges between 7% and 13%

2.2 Cooling Types and Effects:

There is an effective way to increase the efficiency of a PV module by reduce its operating
temperature using cooling systems.

Types of cooling:-

1- Cooling using water.

2- Cooling using oils.
3- Cooling using air.

In this chapter we will talk about the cooling by water.

When the radiation is applied on the cell, the temperature is increased, so the efficiency will
decrease, this problem required from us to think in such a way to increase the efficiency by
cooling the module using water.

11
This way of cooling is done by installing pipes on the backside of the module or flow a water
on the upper surface for the module.

A water flow on the upper surface of the module has a main three advantages:

1- There is a drop in cell temperature.

2- Increase in the incident radiation due to radiation refraction by water.
3- Continued surface cleaning by water flow. [5]

Cooling by installing pipes on the backside of the module is requiring a circulating fluid
inside the pipes to transfer the heat between the module and the water inside the pipes.

Cooling is necessary in PV applications for two main reasons:

1- Increase the lifetime of the PV cells.
2- Reduce PV module area by increasing output power of the module. [5]

12
CHAPTER (3)
Design and Analysis:
3.1 Preview
In this chapter we will discuss the J/V characteristics of series connected
photovoltaic cells. These cells will be cooled by a fluid flowing through pipes mounted on the
backside of them. This fluid will operate as a heat sinker to improve the efficiency of the
module since it is inverse proportional with the temperature. We will analyze two different
cooling systems with different designs.

In the first design (A) the same fluid will pass through all the cells in the module, therefore
each cell will have a unique fluid temperature.

In the second design (B) the fluid that passed through each row of cells has the same
operating temperature while it is different for each column of cells since the strings are
parallel-connected.

3.2 Methodology of Design A:

In this design a PV module contains N series-connected solar cells are tested using
MATLABTM software, from which the J/V-characteristics of each cell n ( 1 n N ) are
calculated for different cell operating temperatures Tn . In Figure 6, the fluid inlet of
temperature Ta is under cell 1 while the fluid outlet of temperature Tb underneath the
backside of cell N.

Figure 9: Design A of cooling pipes of PV panel of N series-connected solar cells.

13
The arrows indicate the direction of the fluid flow along the backside-attached pipes whose
inlet and outlet temperatures are Ta and Tb respectively. According to Yang et.al. [4], a
temperature sensors are attached on the surface of the PV panel to find the temperature
distribution of the cells along the pipe, and after analyze the results, a linear relationship was
found between the inlet fluid temperature and the outlet fluid temperature. Therefore, the cell
temperature of a cell n is expressed as:

n 1
Tn = Ta + (Tb Ta ) (1)
N 1
Where (Tb Ta ) depends on the fluid type, material and dimensions of the pipe, fluid flow
rate, solar radiation where the PV system is installed and the efficiency of the cells.

The solar radiation that is not converted to electricity will increase the solar cells
temperatures since it will be converted into heat, and that will decrease the efficiency of the
solar cells. This will be minimized by circulating a fluid to sink this heat and improve the
efficiency, notice that the cells have different operating temperatures so the fluid will cool the
backside of the cells to lower different temperatures. Figure 10 shows that the higher the solar
radiation relation G the larger cell temperature T PV for the same ambient temperatures T amb .

The relation between the temperatures (PV module and ambient temperatures) and the solar
radiation is obtained from this equation

T PV = T amb + ((NOCT-293)/ (80+273)) G (2)

Figure 10: PV cell temperature T PV as a function of both ambient temperatures T amb and
incoming solar radiation G .

14
In order to determine the power output of the solar cell, it is important to determine the
expected operating temperature of the PV module [6]. The Nominal Operating Cell
Temperature (NOCT) is defined as the temperature reached by open circuited cells in a
module under the conditions as listed below:

1. Irradiance on cell surface

2. Air Temperature
3. Wind Velocity
4. Mounting

The current density/voltage J / V characteristics of each solar cell are given as:

V JRs V JRs
J = J s exp 1 +
J ph
nid Vt Rp
(3)
where the saturation current density J s is expressed as:
3
T T Eg
J s = J s nom exp
T 1 n V


Tnom nom id t (4)
Eg
The thermal voltage Vt equals kT q , while the band gap is calculated, depending on
temperature dependence coefficient of band gap, as follows:

E g = E g nom (T Tnom )
(5)

Eq. (3) Eq. (4) indicate that different types of solar cells (amorphous silicon, crystalline
silicon,) which have different values of n id and E g show different dependence on
temperature.

3.3 Simulation of Design A:

The work depends on the components of the PV cell equivalent circuit , where it
includes a current source, a diode, a series resistance and a parallel resistance.

The series resistance is obtained from the resistance of the contacts and the bulk
semiconductor material, while the parallel resistance is obtained from the non-ideality of the
p-n junction. Notice that in this design the operating temperatures are different for different
cells in the same PV module while the cells are connected in series.

As we said in the previous chapter, the solar cell may produce a maximum voltage (i.e. open
circuit voltage) equal to 0.6 volt and a maximum current (i.e. short circuit current) equal to 35

15
mA. A PV module can be formed by connected the individual cells in series or/and in parallel
to get a higher voltage and current.

To generate the J/V characteristic of a single solar cell, we referred to Eq. (1) using
MATLAB software with the electrical parameters shown in Table 1 . The operating ambient
temperature equal to 290K.

Parameter Value ( Unit ) Parameter Value ( Unit )

Eg 1.12(eV ) Rs (
1 10 3 k cm 2 )
G (
1000 W m 2 ) Rp 7.7 (k cm2)

(
2.8 10 4 eV K 1 ) J ph 33 mA/cm2

A (
12 .5 12 .5 cm 2 ) n id 1.57

J snom 5.910-9 T amb 290 (K )

Table 1: The electrical parameters of the solar cell

In Figure (11) shown below we generate the characteristic of P and J versus V and find the
open circuit voltage, fill factor and the efficiency of the solar cell.

16
 Figure 11: The J/V, P/V Characteristic of a single solar cell

The PV module is formed to produce a high voltage and/or current since a single cell can
provide a low voltage and current, this module can be formed by connecting the solar cells in
series, also we can connect more than one module in parallel and/or in series to meet the
desired output power.

First of all, we find the J/V characteristic of a single solar cell and a module without cooling
(i.e. there is no fluid flowing through the pipes), as shown in Figure 12 below:

17
 Figure 12: The J/V characteristic of a single cell and a module without cooling.

Then, we show that if the voltage of the solar cell is decreased, this will affect on the solar
cell efficiency more than if the current of that solar cell is decreased. As we know, the higher
the temperature of the solar cell, the lower the voltage of this cell will be, so we will show the
effect of the cooling system on the temperature of the solar cell and that will be reflected on
its voltage and then on its efficiency, as a result, the lower the temperature of the cell, the
higher the performance of it. Figure 13 shows the temperature effect on the open-circuit
voltage V oc , the optimum voltage of the cell V mpp , the optimum current of the cell I mpp and on
the efficiency .

Figure 13: The effect of the temperature on V oc , V mpp , I mpp and

Finally in this design, we will discuss that how the cooling system will reduce the cost of
solar energy by increasing its efficiency and this will be done by reducing its temperatures
and then protecting the PV modules from the damage by the high temperatures, and the
benefit of the transferred heat from the PV cells into the circulating fluid can be used for
other applications such as heating, cooling and industrial applications.

As we said in the beginning of this chapter, in this design (A), the temperatures of the solar
cells are no identical. Cell 1 will be colder than cell N since the temperature of the fluid at
cell 1 will be lower than that at the cell N, so the fluid at cell 1 serves as heat sink.

18
Figure 14.a: The J/V characteristics for 36 cells and b: for the whole module without cooling.

19
 Figure 14.b: The J/V characteristic of 36 cells and for the whole module with cooling.

Figure 15 shows the effect of the cooling process on the efficiency of each cell in the module
that consists of N cells in series.

20
 Figure 15: The electric efficiency of each PV cell (N=1 to N=36).

Figure 16 shows the cooling effect on the open-circuit voltage V oc , efficiency and the fill
factor FF of the PV module.

Figure 16: Decreasing T b = 70 C to 40 C while fixing T a = 30 C enhances V oc , FF and then

.

21
3.4 A Comparison between Design A and B:

Figure 17: Design B of cooling pipes of PV panel of N series-connected solar cells.

In this design we will cool the PV module using pipes that are parallel to each other , a
certain fluid with a temperature (Ta) will pass through the pipes , and will flow out of the
module with a higher temperature (Tb).

The module have (n) cells in each column and (m) cells in each row , initially, the cells in
each row will has the same operating temperature while its different for each column .

The Operating temperature of the PV cells for design B is :

x 1
Txi , y j = Ta + (Tb Ta ) i , where i = 1L m, j = 1L n
y 1
j

Now, After Applying Design B, we can determine how the efficiency of the solar cells will
be after cooling, and compare it with the solar cells efficiency after applying Design A as
shown in Figure 18 below:

22
 Figure 18: The efficiency of each cooled cell in the module using the two designs

In figure 19 below, the J/V characteristic of the PV module is showed after cooling using the
two designs.

Figure 19: The J/V characteristic of the cooled module after cooling using the two designs.

23
CHAPTER (4)
MATLAB Simulation:
4.1 Design A:
In this design, the fluid that flow in the panel is the same for all the solar cells, so the
operating temperature of the first cell (i.e. n=1) will be the same of the inlet fluid temperature
Ta according to the equation:

n 1
Tn = Ta + (Tb Ta )
N 1

So, if we substitute n=N (i.e. the cell number 36), Tn will be equal to the outlet fluid
temperature Tb, we used MATLAB, to write a code expressing the cooling process as the
procedure below:

1- Defining all the variables such as Rs,Rp,nid,NOCT,Tpv,Tamb etc.. .

2- We assumed the inlet fluid temperature Ta and the outlit fluid temperature Tb.

3- We calculated the operating temperature of each cell in the module according to

the equation:
n 1
Tn = Ta + (Tb Ta )
N 1
And using for loop has a length of 36 since we have 36 solar cells in series.

4- We generated tha J,V and P of the module using the previuos for loop.

5- Using polyfit command we calculate the open circuit voltage.

6- We used find command to calculate the optimum current density and the optimum
voltage and then the optimum output power.

7- The efficiency and the fill factor of the module has been calculated using the
resulted values in step (5) and (6).

24
4.2 Design B:
We use the same procedure of Design A but for each column, since we have 36
cells, we supposed that we have 9 columns each column consists of 4 cells, after applying
design A temperature equation, we calculated the parameters for the 4 cells in the first
column and reflected these values for all the columns in the module (i.e. 9 columns).

CHAPTER (5): Methodology:

In this chapter we will explain the applying process for Design A, the components of
the design and the results and readings we collected after applying the design.

5.1 Design A using iron tubes:

In this Part of the design, we used iron tubes as a water path for cooling the PV module.

- Advantages:

As we know the iron tubes section shape is square, and the advantage of that is the
area of the tube that touches the module will be a square, that means the cooling
process will be on a larger area of the solar cell than that when we used the iron pipes.
Other advantage is the low cost of the iron tubes compared to other designs.

- Disadvantages:

This design was hard to install due to the welding process. The welding process was
so hard because of the long parts of the design. After applying this design we noticed
that some of the tubes doesnt touch the backside of the module, the reasons of this
defect were:

1- The inaccurate welding process.

2- The effect of the high temperature on the material of the pipes (dilation and
contraction).
3- The non flexible material of the tubes.
4- The heavy weight of the design.

25
 - Summary of the design:
This design has a big advantage in the large cooling area due to the square
shape of the tubes section, on the other hand it has a several disadvantages as
mentioned above.

Figure 20: Design A using iron tubes.

5.2 Design A using iron pipes:

In this part of the design we used iron pipes instead of the tubes because of the big
disadvantages of the tubes that mentioned in the previous section.

- The advantages of this design:

1- Low cost compared to other designs.

2- Easy to install.
3- Lightweight compared to the iron tubes design.

- The disadvantages for this type are:

1- The affected area in the cell is a point.

26
 2- Some parts doesnt touch the module with high percentage because we used some
parts to connect the pipes with each other, these parts were a main reason to fail this
design.
3- Non flexible material.

- Summary for this design:

This design has big advantages such as the low cost and the lightweight but on other
hand it has big disadvantages as mentioned above.

Figure 21: Design A using iron pipes.

5.3 Design A using copper pipes:

In this part of the design, we used copper pipes as a water path for cooling the pv
module.

- Advantages: The main advantage of this design was the flexibility of the copper
pipes, so we can form the pipes in the way that make them touch the backside of
the module with high percent.
- Other advantage in this design was the high heat transfer property of the copper
material. This property makes the cooling process more effective.

- Disadvantages: The main disadvantage of this design was the high cost of the
copper pipes. Other disadvantage was with the small area of the pipes that touches
the backside of the cell.

27
 Figure 22: Design A using copper pipes.

5.4 Procedure:
Part one: Iron tubes.
First we bought 2 iron tubes 6 meter each, then we cut them to 6 pipes 1.5 meter
each, and then we used 12.5 cm rectangular iron pipes to connect between the pipes,
Oxygen soldering method was used to solder the connection points between the pipes
to have the final shape of design A .

We asked the engineering workshops to solder the iron pipes of our design, in the first
trial they were soldering the pipes with high temperature oxygen soldering, this
caused the pipes to have a different shape than requested due to the high temperature,
and we had water leakage at the corners of the connections.

28
 After coming out with the result that we cant solder at high temperature, we werent
able to reuse the soldered pipes, therefore we intended to buy new ones and solder
them at a lower temperature, which took longer time than expected.

After all we had our pipes well soldered with the desired shape; we placed the design
on the back side of the module in order to have a water flow inside the pipes to cool
down the module, we lifted the module under illumination in order to rise the
modules temperature before the start of cooling, unfortunately weve noticed that the
designs pipes dilated due to the temperature and the material type of the pipes.

Part Two: Iron pipes.

After we didnt have our design done, we proceeded to use iron pipes, with
same dimensions used in iron tubes.
But we had a critical issue which is that the pipes didnt completely touch the back
surface of the module due to the connections parts which were having a higher edge
than the plan of the pipes surface; this caused that the some of the modules cells are
cooled and other cells left without cooling, which doesnt offer us the opportunity of
intense studying of the temperature distribution on the back side of the module.

Part Three: Copper pipes.

Copper pipes offered us the option of shaping them on the back side of the
module with the desired shape; this was one step forward cooling the module with the
desired results to be measured.
We used wooden rods to completely mount the pipes on the back side of the module.

29
5.5 Measurement tools.
1- PV Analyzer.

One of the most important instrumentations in the laboratory was the PV Analyzer.
This device plots the J/V and P/V characteristic for any module that is connected to it
under illumination.
The data transfer from this device and the computer was done using Bluetooth
technology.

Figure 23: PV Analyzer.

2- IR Camera

An infrared camera is a non-contact device that detects infrared energy (heat) and converts it
into an electronic signal, which is then processed to produce a thermal image on a video
monitor and perform temperature calculations.
We used the IR Camera to determine the temperature of a specific solar cell in the module.
We take some snapshots from this device shown in the next slides

30
 Figure 24: IR Camera

3- Illumination meter.

The Illumination meter is used to determine the value of the illumination for each
characteristic for the PV module.

Figure 25: Illumination meter.

31
5.6 Results.
Using the PV analyzer we were able to have the I-V characteristics curve of the
module at different flow rates with different illumination levels, noticing that the
curve vary with the change of the flow rate and the illumination.

Figure 26: The illumination vs. the average operating temperature of the PV module.

Figure 26 shows the illumination versus the average operating temperature of the module at
different water flow rates. As water flow rate increase the temperature will decrease, but the
illumination changes this relation, we werent able to have results at same illumination due to
insufficient laboratory equipment.

The next figures show the relation between (open circuit voltage, short circuit current,
maximum power point current and maximum power point voltage) and the operating
temperature of the PV module.

32
Figure 27: Voc vs. operating temperature of the PV module.

Figure 28: Isc vs. operating temperature of the PV module.

33
 Figure 29: Vmpp vs. operating temperature of the PV module.

Figure 30: Impp vs. operating temperature of the PV module.

The figure below shows the characteristics of the PV module at five different water flow rates
levels and at different illuminations due to the weather:

34
 Figure 31: I-V characteristics curve for the PV module at five different flow rates and
illuminations.

The increase of the Isc of the module is due to the increase of the illumination, and that was
due to the insufficient equipments used to measure the curves at the same illumination.

Conclusion:
In this project, we have proved that the operating temperature of the solar cells affects
on their performance, so this project shows the importance of the cooling process for
the solar cells to improve its performance using different designs.

After analyzing the PV module using two cooling designs, we found that design B is
more efficient than design A, since the efficiency of the solar cells in design B is
higher than that in design A.

35
 Appendix
With cooling and water flow, valve is fully closed, measurement taken at 1:19pm
with illumination level G=260W/m2.

Table 1A: PV-Analyzer measurement data.

MODEL
MEASUREMENTS PREDICTIONS
Voc 39.58798 #N/A
Isc 1.681107 #N/A
Vmpp 32.37589 #N/A
Impp 1.422387 #N/A
Pmax 46.05103 #N/A
PV Temp (deg C) #N/A #N/A
Irradiance (W/m^2) #N/A #N/A
User Series R (Ohms) 0.029967

Performance Factor (%) #N/A

MODEL IV POINTS VOLTS AMPS

Isc #N/A #N/A
Ix #N/A #N/A
Impp #N/A #N/A
Ixx #N/A #N/A
Voc #N/A #N/A
IV Measurements:
VOLTS AMPS WATTS
2.447136 1.681107 4.113898
4.885914 1.66174 8.119119
7.293834 1.658512 12.09691
9.561988 1.645601 15.73521
11.93337 1.632689 19.48348
14.20365 1.629461 23.1443
16.4037 1.619777 26.57034
18.67114 1.603638 29.94175
20.90418 1.587498 33.18534
23.13934 1.581043 36.58428
25.30285 1.561675 39.51483
27.53233 1.529396 42.10784
29.52166 1.500345 44.29268
31.54114 1.451927 45.79542

36
33.48328 1.364773 45.69708
35.20689 1.222746 43.04907
36.63477 0.990337 36.28076
37.70158 0.745016 28.08829
38.49944 0.522291 20.10792
38.80886 0.341529 13.25435
39.17697 0.228552 8.953991
39.31446 0.141399 5.559029
39.43802 0.105892 4.176178
39.58976 0.086525 3.425496
39.57872 0.054246 2.146979
39.56367 0.034878 1.379917
39.53398 0.025195 0.996046
39.59808 0.034878 1.381118
39.55166 0.021967 0.868823
39.51565 0.009055 0.357822

37
Table 1B: Temperature sensors measurement data:

Cell# T Cell# T Cell# T

Cell #1 32.75 Cell#31 36.31 Cell#61 37.63
Cell #3 33.75 Cell#33 36.31 Cell#63 37.75
Cell #5 34.00 Cell#35 36.50 Cell#67 38.25
Cell #7 34.94 Cell#37 36.56 Cell#69 38.311
Cell #9 35.31 Cell#39 36.81 Cell#71 39.00
Cell #11 35.38 Cell#41 36.88
Cell #13 35.44 Cell#43 36.88
Cell #15 35.50 Cell#45 36.94
Cell #17 35.56 Cell#47 37.00
Cell #19 35.56 Cell#49 37.13
Cell #21 35.75 Cell#51 37.25
Cell #23 35.81 Cell#53 37.25
Cell #25 35.81 Cell#55 37.31
Cell #27 36.06 Cell#57 37.38
Cell #29 36.25 Cell#59 37.63

Figure 1C: I-V, P-V characteristics curve of the PV module.

38
 With cooling and water flow, valve is quarterly open, measurement taken at
1:19pm with illumination level G=257W/m2.

Table 2A: PV-Analyzer measurement data.

MODEL
MEASUREMENTS PREDICTIONS
Voc 39.63537 #N/A
Isc 1.671424 #N/A
Vmpp 32.38733 #N/A
Impp 1.41381 #N/A
Pmax 45.78952 #N/A
PV Temp (deg C) #N/A #N/A
Irradiance
(W/m^2) #N/A #N/A
User Series R
(Ohms) 0.029967
IV Measurements:
VOLTS AMPS WATTS
2.96114 1.671424 4.94932
4.33679 1.668196 7.234615
5.849366 1.66174 9.720126
7.362652 1.658512 12.21105
8.77058 1.645601 14.43287
10.31757 1.639145 16.91198
11.76203 1.635917 19.24171
13.24091 1.632689 21.61829
14.54703 1.626233 23.65686
16.02236 1.606866 25.74578
17.43313 1.606866 28.01269
18.912 1.603638 30.328
20.28765 1.60041 32.46856
21.76653 1.597182 34.76511
23.03682 1.58427 36.49656
24.47632 1.558447 38.14505
25.81827 1.558447 40.23641
27.15454 1.532624 41.6177
28.49152 1.510029 43.02302
29.75968 1.487433 44.26555
31.02643 1.458382 45.24839
32.35914 1.41642 45.83413
33.44603 1.351862 45.2144
34.53292 1.287304 44.45435

39
 35.60844 1.171099 41.70101
36.46899 1.01616 37.05832
37.18447 0.864449 32.14407
37.76588 0.728877 27.52667
38.23953 0.577166 22.07054
38.60768 0.441594 17.04891
38.80886 0.341529 13.25435
39.08271 0.251148 9.815531
39.20498 0.212413 8.327644
39.28773 0.160766 6.316151
39.44442 0.122032 4.813469
39.44058 0.112348 4.43107
39.45667 0.089753 3.541343
39.65208 0.057474 2.278952
39.59235 0.063929 2.531119
39.58223 0.041334 1.6361
39.55439 0.03165 1.251916
39.56367 0.034878 1.379917
39.55166 0.021967 0.868823
39.49111 0.012283 0.485073
39.60279 0.025195 0.99778
39.59433 0.012283 0.486341
39.55006 0.009055 0.358134
39.55006 0.009055 0.358134
39.48124 0.009055 0.35751

Table 2B: Temperature sensors measurement data:

Cell #1 32.75
Cell #3 33.69
Cell #5 33.88
Cell #7 34.69
Cell #9 35.13
Cell #11 35.31
Cell #13 35.38
Cell #15 35.5
Cell #17 35.56
Cell #19 35.63
Cell #21 35.63
Cell #23 35.88
Cell #25 35.94

40
Cell #27 36.13
Cell #29 36.13
Cell #31 36.25
Cell #33 36.31
Cell #35 36.44
Cell #37 36.5
Cell #39 36.63
Cell #41 36.75
Cell #43 36.88
Cell #45 36.94
Cell #47 37
Cell #49 37.19
Cell #51 37.19
Cell #53 37.25
Cell #55 37.25
Cell #57 37.25
Cell #59 37.38
Cell #61 37.63
Cell #63 37.69
Cell #67 38.13
Cell #69 38.19
Cell #71 39
Figure 2C: Shows the I-V and the P-V characteristics curve.

41
 With cooling and water flow, valve is half open, measurement taken at 1:20pm
with illumination level G=276W/m2.

Table 3A: PV-Analyzer measurement data.

MODEL
MEASUREMENTS PREDICTIONS
Voc 39.80911 #N/A
Isc 1.7844 #N/A
Vmpp 32.59779 #N/A
Impp 1.527435 #N/A
Pmax 49.791 #N/A
PV Temp (deg C) #N/A #N/A
Irradiance
(W/m^2) #N/A #N/A
User Series R
(Ohms) 0.029967
IV Measurements:
VOLTS AMPS WATTS
1.919316 1.7844 3.424828
3.326534 1.768261 5.88218
4.909349 1.768261 8.681008
6.528702 1.777944 11.60767
8.008289 1.777944 14.23829
9.587552 1.761805 16.8914
11.20407 1.758577 19.70321
12.71664 1.752121 22.2811
14.23064 1.752121 24.9338
15.70738 1.73921 27.31843
17.28736 1.726298 29.84313
18.73112 1.719842 32.21456
20.34763 1.716614 34.92903
21.71973 1.697247 36.86374
23.30041 1.687563 39.32092
24.74417 1.681107 41.59761
26.32272 1.66174 43.74152
27.69411 1.639145 45.39466
29.13574 1.623005 47.28745
30.46988 1.587498 48.37088
31.83843 1.551991 49.41296
33.20342 1.500345 49.81659
34.38786 1.409964 48.48563
35.53078 1.287304 45.7389

42
36.52825 1.129137 41.24538
37.21068 0.958058 35.64999
37.84916 0.780523 29.54215
38.35089 0.606217 23.24895
38.89575 0.473873 18.43164
39.02427 0.364124 14.20968
39.22802 0.270515 10.61177
39.44585 0.212413 8.378806
39.59741 0.160766 6.365937
39.58845 0.138171 5.469984
39.6776 0.102664 4.073473
39.83972 0.092981 3.704321
39.75531 0.057474 2.284885
39.72915 0.044562 1.770414
39.71987 0.041334 1.641789
39.79526 0.03165 1.25954
39.78598 0.028423 1.130821
39.75811 0.021967 0.873358
39.79252 0.021967 0.874114
39.83895 0.034878 1.389519
39.73197 0.012283 0.488032
39.6877 0.009055 0.35938
39.6877 0.009055 0.35938
39.79348 0.015511 0.617236
39.67546 0.005827 0.231201
39.64105 0.005827 0.231
39.24824 0 0
39.75651 0.009055 0.360003
39.91632 0.005827 0.232604
39.66322 0.002599 0.1031
39.82533 0.009055 0.360626
39.89415 0.009055 0.361249

43
 Table 3A: Temperature sensors measurement data:

Cell #1 32.75
Cell #3 33.5
Cell #5 34.19
Cell #7 34.94
Cell #9 35
Cell #11 35
Cell #13 35.13
Cell #15 35.13
Cell #17 35.19
Cell #19 35.25
Cell #21 35.38
Cell #23 35.44
Cell #25 35.44
Cell #27 35.56
Cell #29 35.63
Cell #31 35.69
Cell #33 36
Cell #35 36.06
Cell #37 36.25
Cell #39 36.25
Cell #41 36.31
Cell #43 36.38
Cell #45 36.5
Cell #47 36.56
Cell #49 36.69
Cell #51 36.69
Cell #53 37.13
Cell #55 37.13
Cell #57 37.19
Cell #59 37.19
Cell #61 37.19
Cell #63 38
Cell #67 38
Cell #69 38.25
Cell #71 38.25
Figure 3C: shows the I-V and P-V characteristic curve.

44
 With cooling and water flow, valve is quarterly closed, measurement taken at
1:21pm with illumination level G=290W/m2.

Table 34: PV-Analyzer measurement data.

MODEL
MEASUREMENTS PREDICTIONS
Voc 39.88088 #N/A
Isc 1.868326 #N/A
Vmpp 32.68711 #N/A
Impp 1.608652 #N/A
Pmax 52.5822 #N/A
PV Temp (deg C) #N/A #N/A
Irradiance
(W/m^2) #N/A #N/A
User Series R
(Ohms) 0.029967
IV Measurements:
VOLTS AMPS WATTS
1.972189 1.868326 3.684691
3.589412 1.868326 6.70619
4.930653 1.865098 9.196149
6.649683 1.858642 12.35938
8.127849 1.852186 15.05429
9.607436 1.852186 17.79476
11.29135 1.842502 20.80433
12.667 1.839275 23.29808
14.24768 1.829591 26.06743
15.72869 1.836047 28.8786
17.30937 1.826363 31.61319
18.75313 1.819907 34.12895
20.29727 1.80054 36.54605
21.73961 1.787628 38.86234
23.32243 1.787628 41.69182
24.72893 1.768261 43.7272
26.13757 1.758577 45.96493
27.6466 1.735982 47.99399
29.01728 1.710159 49.62414
30.45464 1.674652 51.00092
31.82248 1.635917 52.05893
33.25701 1.587498 52.79544

45
34.33679 1.490661 51.18453
35.41302 1.377685 48.78799
36.40979 1.21629 44.28485
37.22811 1.025844 38.19023
37.86542 0.838625 31.75491
38.36897 0.670775 25.73693
38.91325 0.525519 20.44966
39.0702 0.393175 15.36144
39.2421 0.306022 12.00895
39.48793 0.23178 9.152525
39.60637 0.183362 7.262295
39.6904 0.134943 5.355953
39.68144 0.112348 4.45813
39.79167 0.083297 3.314523
39.77804 0.073613 2.928188
39.78972 0.057474 2.286862
39.84823 0.038106 1.518468
39.83895 0.034878 1.389519
39.82967 0.03165 1.260629
39.87807 0.025195 1.004716
39.83895 0.034878 1.389519
39.76638 0.012283 0.488454
39.91343 0.018739 0.747934
39.97658 0.034878 1.394319
39.86134 0.021967 0.875626
39.69763 0.002599 0.10319
39.5944 0.002599 0.102922
39.69763 0.002599 0.10319
39.77868 0.005827 0.231802
39.99738 0.009055 0.362184
39.83526 0.002599 0.103548
39.31706 0 0
39.85974 0.009055 0.360938

46
Table 4B: Temperature sensors measurement data:

Cell #1 32.44
Cell #3 33.19
Cell #5 33.81
Cell #7 34.31
Cell #9 34.69
Cell #11 34.75
Cell #13 34.88
Cell #15 35
Cell #17 35
Cell #19 35.06
Cell #21 35.13
Cell #23 35.25
Cell #25 35.25
Cell #27 35.31
Cell #29 35.38
Cell #31 35.44
Cell #33 35.69
Cell #35 35.81
Cell #37 36.13
Cell #39 36.19
Cell #41 36.19
Cell #43 36.19
Cell #45 36.25
Cell #47 36.31
Cell #49 36.44
Cell #51 36.44
Cell #53 36.81
Cell #55 36.94
Cell #57 36.94
Cell #59 37
Cell #61 37.19
Cell #63 37.31
Cell #67 37.69
Cell #69 37.81
Cell #71 38.13
Figure 4C: I-V, P-V characteristics curve of the PV module.

47
 With cooling and water flow, valve is fully open, measurement taken at 1:22pm
with illumination level G=265W/m2.

Table 5A: PV-Analyzer measurement data.

MODEL
MEASUREMENTS PREDICTIONS
Voc 39.86131 #N/A
Isc 1.839275 #N/A
Vmpp 32.52249 #N/A
Impp 1.573093 #N/A
Pmax 51.16091 #N/A
PV Temp (deg C) #N/A #N/A
Irradiance
(W/m^2) #N/A #N/A
User Series R
(Ohms) 0.029967
IV Measurements:
VOLTS AMPS WATTS
3.204522 1.839275 5.893995
4.681978 1.829591 8.566104
6.123606 1.813451 11.10486
7.568784 1.813451 13.72562
9.013962 1.813451 16.34638
10.42473 1.813451 18.90474
11.87062 1.816679 21.56511
13.24414 1.803768 23.88935
14.79112 1.797312 26.58426
16.06213 1.787628 28.71311
17.54242 1.790856 31.41595
18.91381 1.768261 33.44455
20.32387 1.765033 35.8723
21.69739 1.752121 38.01646
23.07091 1.73921 40.12515
24.47884 1.726298 42.25777
25.85165 1.710159 44.21042
27.08753 1.697247 45.97423
28.52987 1.684335 48.05387
29.7285 1.658512 49.30508
31.02823 1.623005 50.35898
32.18891 1.581043 50.89203
33.41485 1.52294 50.88882
34.66952 1.439015 49.88995

48
 35.573 1.322811 47.05633
36.46937 1.174327 42.82697
37.22385 1.006476 37.46493
37.79751 0.841853 31.81996
38.26665 0.674003 25.79182
38.7077 0.528747 20.46658
38.97849 0.422226 16.45775
39.21537 0.325389 12.76027
39.35542 0.244692 9.629952
39.47258 0.193045 7.620003
39.59229 0.147855 5.853914
39.61902 0.128487 5.090549
39.70663 0.096208 3.820115
39.72285 0.083297 3.30879
39.75985 0.060702 2.413487
39.94099 0.067157 2.682333
39.84823 0.038106 1.518468
39.84823 0.038106 1.518468
39.85751 0.041334 1.647478
39.80925 0.025195 1.002982
39.80925 0.025195 1.002982
39.7758 0.018739 0.745354
39.82693 0.021967 0.87487
39.7221 0.009055 0.359691
39.90401 0.012283 0.490145
39.80079 0.012283 0.488877
39.67546 0.005827 0.231201
39.75651 0.009055 0.360003
39.74428 0.005827 0.231602
39.76645 0.002599 0.103369

49
Table 5B: shows the temperature sensors measurement data:

Cell #1 32.06
Cell #3 32.88
Cell #5 33.44
Cell #7 33.81
Cell #9 34.31
Cell #11 34.56
Cell #13 34.56
Cell #15 34.56
Cell #17 34.63
Cell #19 34.75
Cell #21 34.81
Cell #23 34.81
Cell #25 34.88
Cell #27 34.88
Cell #29 34.88
Cell #31 35.13
Cell #33 35.19
Cell #35 35.38
Cell #37 35.5
Cell #39 35.56
Cell #41 35.63
Cell #43 35.75
Cell #45 35.75
Cell #47 35.81
Cell #49 35.88
Cell #51 35.94
Cell #53 36.13
Cell #55 36.31
Cell #57 36.38
Cell #59 36.44
Cell #61 36.81
Cell #63 36.88
Cell #67 37.13
Cell #69 37.31
Cell #71 37.38
Figure 5C: shows the I-V and P-V characteristics curve.

50
 References:
[1] S.R.Wenham, M.A.Green, M.E.Watt., R.Corkish, Applied Photovoltaics,
Earthscan, 2007, Chapt. 2

[2] http://hdl.handle.net/1853/25915

1. High Efficiency Mono-Crystalline Solar Cells with Simple

Manufacturable
Technology, Upadhyaya, A. D. ; Yelundur, Vijay ; Rohatgi, Ajeet, 2006-09
2. Georgia Tech, SmartTech Search.

[3] The Institute of Energy Conversion,University of Delaware,Thin Film Solar Cell

Status

[4] D.J. Yang, Z.F. Yuan, P.H. Lee, and H.M. Yin, Simulation and experimental
validation of heat transfer in a novel hybrid solar panel, International Journal of Heat
and Mass Transfer, Vol. 55 (2012), pp. 10761082.

[5] Improving Photovoltaic Module Efficiency Using Water Cooling

SAAD ODEH,1 and MASUD BEHNIA2
1-School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The
University of Sydney, Australia.
2-Dean of Graduate Studies, The University of Sydney, Australia.

[6] http://pveducation.org/pvcdrom/modules/nominal-operating-cell-temperature

Ross RG. Flat-Plate Photovoltaic Array Design Optimization. 14th IEEE

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference. 1980:1126-1132.

51