Enhancing the Energy Efficiency of Solar Panel Using Water: A Case Study in Sudan

Abstract

Operating temperature has been considered a major factor that affects solar panel efficiency. The efficiency of the solar panel is influenced either by increasing or decreasing the panel temperature. The aim of this paper is to design a cooling system to improve the efficiency of the solar system by reducing the temperature of the panel. In this design, additional waterproof layer is added under the button of solar panel to provide more protection from any water leakage, then a region filled with water is added at the back surface of the panel to work as a cooling medium. This region of water exchanges heat between the solar panel and the water layer .The cooling system fixed on the bottom of the panel is almost about 5mm from the back surface. The liquid was fed from the top hole of the system, so if water is inserted from the top hole it can come out of the bottom hole, when there is a need to empty the water. The design ensured that there is no leakage of water at the sides so that the water could not reach the surface of the board. Water tube is connected to the top and bottom of the hole with two valves to control the inlet and outlet of water. The measured parameters of radiation, voltage and current which obtained at different times through the day were used to calculate the efficiency of the panel after and before using this system. The overall experiment results show that when the proposed cooling system was used, the average efficiency of voltage in the solar panel increased approximately by 1.2% and the average efficiency of current in the solar panel increased by 5%.