Solar Energy 188 (2019) 327–338

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Solar Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Experimental investigation on the abasement of operating temperature in T

solar photovoltaic panel using PCM and aluminium
⁎
M. Rajvikram , S. Leoponraj, S. Ramkumar, H. Akshaya, A. Dheeraj
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 602117, India

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The inevitable growth of solar panel systems depicts the importance of improving its efficiency. The incident
Solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) panel solar radiation on Photo Voltaic (PV) panel is partially converted into power, which means only some of it gets
Phase Change Material converted into heat energy. Since the rise in temperature of PV panel has a negative effect on efficiency, several
Aluminium sheet cooling methods were proposed by researchers so far. Among all the proposals, PV panel with Phase Changing
FLIR images
Material (PCM) provides maximum power by reducing the operating temperature of the panel. The low thermal
conductivity nature of PCM makes use of thermal enhancers. Researchers found several such Thermal
Conductivity Enhancers (TCE) for PCMs. The proposed work focuses on a novel technique for enhancing the
efficiency of the solar PV panel with the PCM and the aluminium sheet as TCE. This approach has been ex-
perimented naturally under direct sun rays for three months and observed results of 2 days are attached. The
experiment has been conducted using two 5 W panels, and the results of the PV-PCM entrenched with aluminium
panel is compared with naturally ventilated panel without PCM and aluminium. It is experimentally verified
that, PV-PCM with aluminium sheet at the backside of panel has improved the conversion efficiency of the panel
by an average of 24.4%. For an average decrease in temperature of 10.35 °C, the electrical efficiency of the panel
is increased 2%. In the further examination, by using FLIR thermal imaging camera, the sensitivity of PCM
thermal regulation and the electrical efficiency at various time instants have also been tabulated. While using
this proposed cooling method, the results of FLIR images show a maximum decrease in temperature of 13 °C for
the Day 1 and 7.7 °C for the Day 2.

1. Introduction
The climatic changes across the globe and depletion of fossil fuel
drive the urge towards renewable sources. Among them, various de-
velopments have taken place in solar energy in the recent years.
Continuous developments on solar projects has increased the challenges
in maintaining system stability and efficiency. PhotoVoltaic (PV) cells
are semiconductor materials which convert the solar radiations into
electric current. Generally, PV modules have a conversion efficiency of
5%−20% (Shruti et al., 2015). Therefore, the efficiency of the PV panel
depends on the type of solar cells, the weather condition, the tem-
perature of the cell, etc. Only some solar rays falling on the panel are
converted into power, and the other few rays are dissipated as heat.
Thus, increase in temperature of solar cells causes a decrease in effi-
ciency and damages the panel (Jiang et al., 2008). The rate of decrease
in efficiency ranges from 0.25% to 0.5% per degree Celsius depending
on the type of PV material (Sainthiya and Narendra Beniwal, 2017).
Therefore, several cooling techniques under active cooling methods and
passive cooling methods were proposed. Active methods involve the use
of electrical energy to reduce heat. Passive methods are mostly used in
industrial applications, which reduce the temperature of solar panel by
natural conduction/convection like water passive methods, air passive
methods and so on (Zhangbo et al., 2009). The main advantages of
passive methods over active methods are that, they do not consume
energy and they require only less maintenance.
Under the active cooling method, an experiment (Krauter, 2004)
was conducted to cool the module by flowing water on the top through
nozzles. Results showed that, there was an electrical efficiency of 10.3%
with a reduction in temperature of 22 °C. However, in this case power
consumption to circulate water on the top of the module was con-
sidered as a major drawback. Odeh and Behnia (2009) improved the
performance with water cooling technique which eliminated the use of
circulating pump was reported, but this technique becomes undesirable
in water scarcity areas like the desert and hot arid regions. Water spray
method to cool both sides of PV panel shows an effective increase of
5.9% efficiency (Nizetic et al., 2016). Teo et al. (2012) used blower for

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: rajvikram@svce.ac.in, rajvikram787@gmail.com (R. M.).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.05.067
Received 4 February 2019; Received in revised form 21 May 2019; Accepted 26 May 2019
0038-092X/ © 2019 International Solar Energy Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
R. M., et al.
Nomenclature
A Ampere (A)
Ac area of solar collector (m2)
c specific heat (J/kgK)
E irradiance (W/m2)
G generation rate
ID diode current (A)
IL light generated current (A)
Isat reverse saturation current (A)
k Boltzmann constant (J/K)
k kilo (k)
k thermal conductivity of the PCM (W/mK)
m mass of the material (kg)
the cooling PV module, shows electrical efficiency of 12.5% and (Tonui
and Tripanagnostopoulos, 2007) reported that, heat extraction can be
achieved by low-cost modification of channels, which produces an ef-
ficiency of about 30%. Abdelrahman et al., (Abdelrahman et al., 2013)
conducted an experiment with the three methods such as film water
cooling, backwater cooling and combined film-back water cooling that
lowered the temperature up to 16 °C, 18 °C and 25 °C respectively. Al-
though active methods have higher efficiency, they consume more
power and cost, making them reliable only for large PV systems.
When considering passive cooling methods, there are mainly three
types namely air passive, water passive and conductive cooling tech-
niques. Popovici et al. (2016) presented a numerical approach for re-
ducing temperature by using an air-cooled heat sink with a power in-
crease of 7.5%. Due to high thermal capacity, water cooling method
offers better efficiency (Chandrasekar et al., 2013) like using a capillary
effect of cotton wick with water placed on the back of the module. This
shows maximal efficiency of 10.4% and the results are compared for
cotton wick with Nano fluids. (Sayran Abdulgafar et al., 2014) Panel
immersed in distilled water shows a sizeable increase in power output,
and the overall efficiency is 22% at a water depth of 6 cm. But, the
amount of water utilized is more for a considered mass of PV cell and
therefore, it is not advisable. Though water has higher convection
coefficient, the major problem is, it should be ensured that, both solar
cell and heat exchanging surface have good electrical insulation and
prevention of fluid leakage.
Heat Pipe cooling involves both phase change cooling mechanism
and convection cooling medium. The cooling medium expands and
evaporates heat whereas the condensing medium condensates and re-
leases heat to the surrounding. Tang et al. (2010) investigated both air
cooling and water cooling conditions under natural convection, water
cooling reduces 8 °C temperature rise with the maximal increase in
efficiency of about 13.9%. Concentrated PV panel with copper heat pipe
which has water as working fuel was shown in (Anderson et al., 2018).
However, heat pipe technology restricts its usage in large scale modules
due to its pipe size and it suffers from rapid cooling under high solar
flux radiation. Furthermore, in places where solar has great potential
with water scarcity, employing air or water-based cooling is in-
appropriate (Christopher Smith et al., 2014).
Phase Changing Materials (PCM) come under conductive passive
cooling techniques. PCM is a material with large heat of fusion and
sharp melting point. PCM acts as latent heat storage as it can absorb or
release heat when it changes from solid-liquid phase and vice versa
(Rajaram and Sivakumar, 2015). Moreover, PCM can expand the life-
time of PV panel by 30% (Weber et al., 2018). Installing a layer of PCM
with specific thickness at the rear side of the module reduces the op-
erating temperature significantly (Klugmann-Radziemska et al., 2014;
Kawtharani et al., 2017). There are three types of PCMs such as organic,
inorganic and eutectic. Organic materials are paraffin and non-paraffin,
inorganic materials are hydrated salts and metals and eutectic is a
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Solar Energy 188 (2019) 327–338
n ideality factor
Pmax maximum power developed (W)
H latent heat of the material (J/kg)
q electric charge (C)
ΔT change in temperature (K)
Voc open circuit voltage (V)
W Watts (W)
Greek symbols
β silicon cell efficiency temperature coefficient (1/K)
ρ density of the PCM (kg/m3)
ɳ efficiency of the solar panel
γ irradiance coefficient
combination of two or more materials. Each of them has its own ad-
vantages and disadvantages (Pielichowska and Pielichowski, 2014).
Choice of material should have high latent fusion heat, high thermal
conductivity, non-toxic elements, non-corrosive elements, minimal sub
cooling elements and chemically stable properties (Martensson and
Karlsson, 2018). Paraffin is the most commonly used material in elec-
tronic thermal management which has above properties.
A one-dimensional energy balance model was developed (Kibria
et al., 2016) with three different PCMs of different melting points to
investigate the thermal performance of PV integrated with PCM. It
showed that, PCM effectively limits the temperature rise of panel and
thus it increases the thermal performance by 5%. Sharma et al. (2016)
experimented paraffin (RT 42) based PCM for Building Integrated PV
systems (BIPV) which improves the electrical efficiency to 7.7% with
3.8% reduction in temperature at 1000 Wm−2. Stropnik and Uro_s
Stritih (2016) used RT28HC a type of paraffin PCM and achieved 12.2%
energy efficiency, and 7.3% of annual efficiency was recorded. Al-
though PCM has a high latent heat of fusion per unit volume, organic
PCMs have low thermal conductivity. In order to augment this lower
thermal conductivity, the high thermal conductivity material is added
which improves heat transfer. Randy Weinstein et al. (2008) improved
thermal coefficient by suspending graphite nanofibers in PCM. Nano-
enhanced PCM (Sahoo and Das, 2016) provides a less resistive path for
heat flow and thus it reduces base temperature significantly. However,
in the case of larger system, nanoparticle entrenched PCM increases the
cost. Other high thermal conductive metals like aluminium or copper
can be entrenched with PCM. Shatikian et al. (2005) show the simu-
lated result of vertical internal fins with PCM for a certain temperature.
A modified PCM with fin effectively controlled the cooling period for
solidification of PCM. Although this method improves the thermal
conductivity of PCM, geometry of fins and the heat flow path determine
the efficiency (Saha and Pradip, 2018). Khanna et al. (2018b) show the
effect of finned PV-PVM with fins of different spacing, thickness and
length that are experimented on various climatic conditions. This ex-
periment concludes the effectiveness of PCM on different climates, and
the results show that for highly alterative climate, PV-PCM method
improves the electrical efficiency by 8.4% for spacing 1/5 m. For
warmer and colder climate finned PCM increments electrical output by
12.1% and 6.7% respectively. PCM is more beneficial for clear sky
climate as the amount of flux incident on the panel during this climate
is large enough to produce more heat. Selection criteria for climates
suitable for PCM integration is also briefly explained in (Khanna et al.,
2018c). Kant et al. (2016) thermodynamically presented the effect of
convection of PCM, tilt angle of PV, and wind speed on PV panel op-
erating temperature. The maximum operating temperature reaches
55.31 °C, 53.53 °C and 52.32 °C for wind speed of 2 m/s, 3 m/s and 4 m/
s respectively. For tilt angle 60°, 45 °C and 30° the operating tempera-
ture reaches 55.81 °C, 54.88 °C and 54.32 °C respectively. The experi-
ment by Khanna et al.(2017) shows, on increasing the wind azimuthal
R. M., et al.
angle from 0 to 90°, temperature of panel increases from 51.8 °C to
88.2 °C for monocrystalline, 45.5 °C to 50.7 °C for pervoskite cells, and
48.4 °C to 53.9 °C for dye-sensitized cell respectively. Khanna et al.
(2018d) presented mathematical model for analyzing electrical and
thermal performance of PV-PCM and only PV system. The integration of
aluminium box with PCM decreases average PV temperature by 20 °C
and the total electrical output is increased from 17.7 kWh/day to 18.9
kWh/day. Therefore, this box and fins of aluminium integrated to the
panel seems to be heavy and bulky. Researchers used aluminum and
copper foam (Baby and Balaji, 2013) as thermal enhancers but these
affect the solidification and melting time of PCM.
Organic PCM materials showed better advantages like corrosion
resistance and temperature regulation of the PV panel but the major
limitation faced is the low thermal conductivity. Therefore, this work
presents a novel Thermal Conductivity Enhancer (TCE). The proposed
work uses an organic PCM called OM-29 material entrenched with
aluminum at its rear surface. The aluminum entrenched at the rear side
of the PV panel ensured that, effective heat rejection takes place and
thus it is lowering temperature of the panel and increasing efficiency of
the panel. The effect of the proposed cooling on the PV panel was
analyzed by measuring the output power and sensing the thermal
performance using FLIR thermal imaging camera. For real time appli-
cation, the experiment is conducted under natural sunlight. In this ex-
periment, solar irradiance at the instance and corresponding output
power are also calculated.
2. Problem description
The major constraints faced in cooling solar PV panel is either the
cooling provided is not sufficient or the method is not economical. Also,
most of the methods were not tested under direct sunlight for using it in
real time applications. The major drawback faced by solar PV panel is
that, most of the waste heat produced by the PV panel not only raises
the temperature of the panel but also causes the thermal regulation of
the panel poor.
The aim of our work is to regulate the temperature of the PV panel
and increase its efficiency. As discussed earlier, several cooling tech-
niques owing to advantages of PCM with TCE, it is used for cooling the
PV panel. For real-time applications, the test was made under natural
sunlight. Apart from it, to understand the thermal regulation of the PV
panel, more conveniently FLIR images were taken through a thermal
imaging camera. A block diagram (Fig. 1) of the proposed work is
shown.
3. Experiment methodology
3.1. Basic experimental setup
The experiment consists of two solar panels of same ratings and size.
The ratings of the solar PV panel is about 12 V and 5 W panel manu-
factured by Melody Private Limited, Delhi. The length and breadth
covered by each panel is about 19 cm * 19 cm each respectively. The
other specifications of the solar panel is given in the form of a table
(Table 1). Between the two panels, one panel is neither filled with PCM
nor fixed with aluminium sheet at rear side, where as the other panel is
filled by the cooling material PCM of 0.03 m thickness and it is covered
with the aluminium sheet. The PCM is be filled at the rear side up to the
maximum capacity that the panel can hold and it is entrenched by the
aluminium sheet. The thickness of the aluminium is very small in the
range of millimeters. The two panels are placed on the stand very near
to each other in such a way that the solar radiation incident on both the
panel are almost the same. The stand is inclined at an angle of 45°
throughout the experiment and the direction of stand is changed with
respect to the sun’s direction in such a way that the radiation incident
on solar panel will be high. The output from the panel is fetched
through wires which are connected to a Decade Resistance Box (DRB)
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Solar Energy 188 (2019) 327–338
and multimeters. The experimental setup along with the solar panels
used, DRB and multimeters are presented in the form of a figure for
better understanding (Fig. 2a). The normal panel is connected to the
DRB and multimeters to measure the current and voltage. The current is
measured through one multimeter by connecting it in series and the
voltage is measured through another multimeter which is connected in
parallel to it. The PCM filled panel is also connected similarly to a DRB
and multimeters in the same manner as that of a normal panel. The rear
side image (Fig. 2b) of both the panels is also attached for clear un-
derstanding of the experiment. The irradiance fallen on both the panels
are measured simultaneously by using the installation meter and it is
verified through the irradiance data received in Chennai during that
period.
The three-dimensional sketched images of the uncooled solar PV
panel and the cooled solar PV panel (Figs. 3a and 3b) are also included
for easy and precise understanding of the panels used. The Fig. 3a
shows the uncooled solar PV panel for standard measurements and the
Fig. 3b shows the image of solar PV panel filled with PCM material
entrenched with aluminium at its rear surface.
3.2. Characteristics of PCM
One of the important criteria for selecting PCM is based on its
melting point. PCM with adjustable melting point is necessary for solar
applications. The melting point of PCM lies above 15 °C and below 90 °C
which is suitable for solar heating application and for heat load level-
ling application (Mohammed Farid et al., 2004). The PCM used in this
experiment is OM-29. As the name of the materials indicates itself, it is
an organic material. The melting point and freezing point of the PCM is
around 29.0 °C. The latent heat capacity of the PCM is 229 J/kg. The
liquid density of the material is around 870 kg/m3 and the solid density
of the material is around 868 kg/m3 (Web Reference-5). The maximum
operating temperature of the PCM is 120 °C. The other characteristics of
the PCM material are given in the form of a table (Table 2). This PCM
will also give additional mechanical strength to the surface to which it
is used. The PCM is generally made by combining several chemicals
which make PCM to change its state during the melting point and
transfer the heat for maintaining the temperature at the material’s
surface. This PCM will store thermal energy as latent heat in crystalline
form.
3.3. Characteristics of aluminium
Considering the aluminium sheet, it is lightweight, corrosion re-
sistant and it has the tendency of absorbing heat i.e. high thermal
conductivity. It has a specific weight of 2.7 g/cm3 and therefore, it is
100% recyclable and has low permeability (Web reference-1). Thus, the
aluminium metal is covered by the thin layer of oxide in order to
protect the metal from the attack of air (Web reference-2). Therefore,
aluminium alloys are used in most number of applications because it
has high mechanical strength when compared to the pure aluminium
(Sheasby and Pinner, 2001). Aluminium alloys have a conductivity
averaging 62% of International Annealed Copper Standard (IACS)
Solar
PV PCM Aluminium
panel
High Creates a
temperature shift in
temperature
Improves
diffusion
rate
Fig. 1. Block diagram of the proposed work.
R. M., et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 327–338

Table 1
Specifications of the chosen solar panel.
Nominal Peak Power 5 Wp

Maximum power voltage (Vmp) 18.0 V

Maximum power current (Imp) 0.28 A
Short-circuit current (Isc) 0.32 A
Open-circuit voltage (Voc) 21.5 V
Optimized cell efficiency (%) 17.2%
Temperature coefficient −0.0045 K−1
Dimensions 19*19 cm2

Fig. 3a. Three-dimensional sketched image of uncooled solar PV panel.

Fig. 3b. Three-dimensional sketched image of cooled solar PV panel.

Table 2
Characteristics of the PCM material OM-29.
Property Value
Fig. 2a. Images of the experimental setup.
Base material Organic
Melting temp (°C) 29.0
Freezing temp (°C) 29.0
Latent heat (J/kg) 229
Liquid density (kg/m3) 870
Solid density (kg/m3) 868
Liquid specific heat (kJ/kg K) 3.9
Solid specific heat (kJ/kg K) NA
Liquid thermal conductivity (W/mK) 0.172
Liquid thermal conductivity (W/mK) 0.293
Maximum operating temperature (°C) 120

because of its density, it can carry more than twice as much electricity
as the equivalent weight of copper (Web reference-4). The main ap-
plication of Al-Cu alloys is casting for aircraft which increases me-
chanical strength, pump housings, high-velocity blowers etc. (Web re-
ference-3). The main advantage of aluminium over copper is that,
aluminium is readily available.

3.4. Characteristics of PCM entrenched aluminium with PV panel

The experimental setup of cooled solar PV panel consisting of PV

Fig. 2b. Rear side view of uncooled and cooled solar PV panel.
panel filled with PCM entrenched with aluminium is shown (Fig. 4).
The principle of operation is explained as the solar rays’ incident on the
surface of the solar PV panel which increase the temperature at the
surface of the PV panel. A paraffinic organic Phase Changing Material
undergoes melting and congealing to store and release thermal energy
from the PV panel or to the PV panel at an almost constant temperature,
placing aluminium at its rear surface enhances thermal dissipation ca-
pacity of PCM.

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R. M., et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 327–338

The current drawn by the solar panel can be measured by analyzing the
equivalent circuit of a solar cell. The equivalent circuit of a PV cell is
given as shown in (Fig. 7).
The ohmic losses in the cell occur due to the series and shunt re-
sistance are denoted by Rs and Rp respectively. Rs is the resistance of-
fered in the current path and Rp is referred to the resistance at the
leakage path of the current. The I-V equation of solar cell under illu-
mination is given as:
qv
( )
Itotal = I0 e nKT − 1 − IL (1)

Where, IL = qAG (Ln + Lp + W), the light generated current which in-
dicates that, the carriers generated within the volume of cross section
area A and length (Ln + Lp + W).
The I-V equation of the equivalent circuit (Fig. 7) of a solar cell in
terms of current density J = I/A can be written as (Chetan Singh
Solanki, 2011):
V0 + IR s
( )
qV
J = Jph − Jsat enKT − 1 −
Fig. 4. Solar PV panel with PCM entrenched with aluminium. Rp (2)

Thus from Eq. (2), it is clearly seen that, the output current drawn
3.5. Irradiance measurement by the solar panel depends exponentially on the temperature of the
solar panel.
In the proposed methodology, solar irradiance is not kept constant Solar cells are characterized and compared with each other based on
at 1000 W/m2, as sun’s irradiance keeps changing throughout the day, four parameters such as short circuit current Isc, open circuit voltage
the panel is kept under natural sunlight. The experiment was conducted Voc, fill factor FF and efficiency η.
at the department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering in Sri Short circuit current Isc is the maximum current that flows in the
Venkateswara College of Engineering at Chennai (Fig. 5) during the solar cell when its terminal is short circuited or when V = 0.
month of November, the average irradiance level was proven to be Substituting V = 0 in Eq. (1) the equation becomes Isc = −IL. It is the
4.12 kWh/m2/day by tracking the sun for 10 h which has been given in light generated current, represented generally in current per unit area
standard website (Web reference-6). Therefore, the average irradiance mA/cm2.
per day is calculated as 4120/10 = 412 W/m2. But, this average irra- The open circuit voltage depends on the temperature of PV panel
diance value varies from day to day according to the climatic changes. which is evident from the equation given below (Carlson, 1989):
The average irradiance level in Chennai for various months is presented
in the form of Fig. 6 (Web reference-6). The irradiance was also cal- Eg0 T 3kT T
Voc = Voc (To)−⎡ − Voc (To) ⎤ ⎡ − 1⎤ − ln
culated for every instance through the installation meter. The location ⎢ e
⎣ ⎥⎢
⎦ ⎣ To ⎥
⎦ e To (3)
of the experimented area is clearly visible from the satellite image
provided. IfTo = 300 K and temperature rises by 40 K, then T = 340 K is the
3kT T
temperature of the panel. T = 0.125 and e ln T = 10 mV which can be
To 0
neglected. The change of Voc with temperature is given as:
4. Mathematical modelling
Eg0
⎡ − Voc (To) ⎤
dVoc e ⎦ − 3kT
4.1. Equivalent circuit of a solar cell = −⎣
dT T0 e (4)

The sun rays falling on the solar cell give rise to current and voltage. where T = 300 K, Eg0 = 1.21 eV and Voc = 0.55 V, which is typical for

Map of TamilNadu, India

Fig. 5. Location of the study area (Web Reference-7).

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R. M., et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 327–338

Average Irradiance
7 6.6
6.05 5.91
5.76 5.78
6
4.85 4.86 4.92
Irradiance (kWh/m2/day) 5 4.39 4.22 4.12
4 3.68

0
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
Months
Fig. 6. Average value of irradiance incident of Chennai.

silicon solar cell, it gets decreased in Voc with increase in T of dVoc/

dT = −2.45 mV K−1 at 25 °C (Bhargava et al., 1991). This statement
also agrees with (Green, 1992).

4.2. Efficiency of the solar panel

Sun’s irradiance falls on the solar panel and gets converted into
electrical energy. Thus solar power conversion efficiency is defined as
ratio of product of maximum voltage and current to the product of
amount of solar irradiance and area of the panel (Anand et al., 2009):
Fig. 7. Equivalent circuit of a PV cell (Tobnaghi et al., 2013).
Vm Im
η= .
EA (5)
Solar panel efficiency depends on maximum power output, which
indirectly depends on the temperature of the panel.

Table 3
Overall comparison of uncooled and cooled solar PV panel for Day 1.
Time (Hours) Ambient temperature (°C) Irradiance (W/m2) Normal panel without cooling Panel cooled with PCM and aluminium

Isc (A) Voc (V) Pmax (W) Isc (A) Voc (V) Pmax (W)

9:00 25 136 0.364 3.8 1.0097 0.36 3.709 0.9747

9:15 25 122 0.367 3.86 1.0341 0.37 3.85 1.0399
9:30 26 140 0.38 3.992 1.1074 0.372 3.8 1.0319
9:45 27 175.2 0.382 4.035 1.1252 0.41 4.3 1.2870
10:00 27 211.5 0.39 4.11 1.1701 0.435 4.54 1.4417
10:15 27 166 0.395 4.173 1.2033 0.45 4.655 1.5292
10:30 28 176 0.36 3.968 1.0428 0.42 4.555 1.3966
10:45 28 175.3 0.397 4.185 1.2129 0.467 4.86 1.6568
11:00 28 195 0.398 4.18 1.2145 0.46 4.78 1.6051
11:15 28 173 0.392 4.125 1.1804 0.457 4.77 1.5913
11:30 28 158 0.383 4.065 1.1365 0.43 3.965 1.2446
11:45 28 189.5 0.389 4.1 1.1644 0.455 4.71 1.5644
12:00 30 194 0.377 3.96 1.0898 0.45 4.662 1.5315
12:15 30 180.8 0.392 4.142 1.1853 0.458 4.748 1.5875
12:30 29 182.4 0.392 4.141 1.1850 0.459 4.756 1.5936
12:45 31 194.5 0.38 4.003 1.1104 0.45 4.678 1.5367
13:00 31 140.2 0.377 3.78 1.0403 0.42 4.215 1.2923
13:15 31 174 0.377 4.0 1.1008 0.45 4.656 1.5295
13:30 31 166.5 0.374 3.945 1.0771 0.45 4.14 1.3600
13:45 29 153 0.367 3.863 1.0349 0.433 4.504 1.4237
14:00 29 155 0.337 3.543 0.8716 0.367 3.92 1.0502
14:15 31 146 0.366 3.829 1.0230 0.417 4.218 1.2840
14:30 31 127.5 0.358 3.762 0.9832 0.42 4.34 1.3306
14:45 29 123 0.35 3.715 0.9492 0.402 4.162 1.2214
15:00 29 120 0.351 3.695 0.9468 0.389 4.021 1.1418

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R. M., et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 327–338

Table 4
Overall comparison of uncooled and cooled solar PV panel for Day 2.
Time (Hours) Ambient temperature (°C) Irradiance (W/m2) Normal panel without cooling Panel cooled with PCM and aluminium

Isc (A) Voc (V) Pmax (W) Isc (A) Voc (V) Pmax (W)

9:00 27 115 0.345 3.5 0.8815 0.33 3.6 0.8672

9:15 27 110.05 0.35 3.7 0.9454 0.31 3.3 0.7468
9:30 27 116.5 0.33 3.462 0.8340 0.316 3.31 0.7636
9:45 27 171.85 0.377 3.97 1.0926 0.4 4.167 1.2168
10:00 27 191.8 0.386 4.8 1.3525 0.43 4.48 1.4063
10:15 27 169.5 0.39 4.1 1.1673 0.436 4.54 1.4450
10:30 27 189.5 0.402 4.21 1.2355 0.45 4.5 1.4783
10:45 27 191.1 0.398 4.185 1.2159 0.464 4.828 1.6353
11:00 27 176.5 0.391 4.12 1.1760 0.458 4.76 1.5915
11:15 27 181 0.388 4.087 1.1576 0.452 4.68 1.5442
11:30 27 167.5 0.395 4.11 1.1851 0.457 4.75 1.5847
11:45 28 183.8 0.398 4.189 1.2171 0.461 4.785 1.6103
12:00 28 182 0.381 4.02 1.1181 0.454 4.7 1.5577
12:15 28 188 0.375 3.96 1.0841 0.45 4.66 1.5308
12:30 28 190 0.388 4.097 1.1604 0.456 4.731 1.5749
12:45 28 176 0.383 4.04 1.1295 0.454 4.707 1.5600
13:00 28 189.5 0.382 4.007 1.1174 0.453 4.662 1.5417
13:15 28 153.5 0.351 3.69 0.9455 0.435 4.54 1.4417
13:30 28 187.5 0.366 3.818 1.0201 0.44 4.528 1.4544
13:45 28 167 0.366 3.864 1.0324 0.437 4.515 1.4403
14:00 28 155 0.339 3.643 0.9015 0.376 4.02 1.1034
14:15 30 141 0.365 3.843 1.0240 0.42 4.305 1.3199
14:30 30 123 0.353 3.693 0.9517 0.403 4.16 1.2238
14:45 30 126 0.358 3.768 0.9847 0.404 4.18 1.2328
15:00 30 120 0.356 3.75 0.9746 0.401 4.146 1.2137

Normal Panel Without Cooling Panel cooled with PCM and Aluminium
1.8

1.6
OUTPUT POWER (WATTS)

1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

TIME (MINUTES)
Fig. 8. Comparison graph between cooled and uncooled PV panel for Day 1.

At Standard Test Condition (STC), the irradiance is 1000 W/m2 at FF =

Vm Im
25 °C. The specification for the solar panel used in the study provided Voc Isc (7)
by manufacturer at STC is mentioned in Table 1.
The maximum power produced by the solar panel is calculated from
The electrical efficiency of the panel in terms of temperature is
the values of total output voltage and current from the solar panel as
given as (Khanna et al., 2017):
follows (Skoplaki and Palyvos, 2009):
ηe = ηref [1 + β (T − Tref ) + γ ln(E/1000)], (6)
Pmax = Vm Im = (FF ) Voc Isc . (8)
−1
where β = −0.0045 K is silicon cell efficiency temperature coeffi-
cient, Tref = 25 °C at STC, ηref is optimized efficiency of the cell and Since FF and Voc depend on the temperature, it is evident that power
γ = 0.085 is irradiance coefficient. output also depends on the temperature of the panel.

4.3. Fill factor and maximum power of the solar panel 4.4. Characteristic equation of PCM and aluminium

It is the ratio of maximum power Pmax to the ideal power P0 = Voc 4.4.1. Aluminium
Ioc. FF is mainly controlled by Voc which decreases with the increase in The aluminium has high thermal conductivity, which is the ability
temperature. The expression for FF (Keerthi K Nair et al., 2016): of the material to transfer heat to the surroundings. Thermal

333
R. M., et al.
Normal Panel Without Cooling
1.8
OUTPUT POWER (WATTS)
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
TIME (MINUTES)
Fig. 9. Comparison graph between cooled and uncooled PV panel for Day 2.
Conductivity of metal is defined as rate of heat transfer per unit area
and per unit temperature gradient imposed normal to the area. It is
given as:
dT
H = −kA . spite of the temperature increase, Pmax of the modified PV-PCM panel
dx
Eq. (9) (Abu-Eishah, 2001) clearly illustrates that, the heat released
depends on the temperature of the solar panel and the area of the
substance used in releasing the heat. Thermal conductivity of alumi-
nium ranges from 88 to 251 W/mK and it increases with the increase in
temperature (Web reference-8). Aluminium distributes the heat uni-
formly and thus, it reduces the hotspots. Low density, corrosion re-
sistance and high thermal conductivity have made aluminium as the
material of choice for TCE. In this study, aluminium sheet of
19 × 19 cm2 is entrenched to the back of PV panel.
4.4.2. PCM
PCM stores the energy in the form of latent heat. Latent heat storage
is due to phase change of a material. Initially when the temperature
increases, the heat stored in solid state of PCM is released. Further in-
crease in temperature changes the phase to liquid state by absorbing
heat and the temperature remains constant until all the solid is con-
verted into liquid material. Large amount of energy is stored during this
transformation. To determine the undergoing phase change of PCM
(solid or liquid), with specific heat capacity of each phase, the tem-
perature field is: (Ming Jun Huang, 2011).
E/c s T < Tm (solidphase)
⎧ ⎫
T= Tm 0 < E < H T > Tm (meltzone)
⎨ ⎬
⎩ Tm + (E − H)/cL E ≥ H T > Tm (liquidphase) ⎭
where, c is specific heat capacity of each phase, E is thermal energy (J
kg−1) and H is latent heat (J/kg).
5. Results and discussion
In this section, discussion on the work was made related to the
output power, efficiency and temperature of the PV panel.
5.1. PV output power
The experiment was performed under natural sunlight for 2 days.
Irradiance changed at different times of the day which ranged from
(120–200 W/m2). The experiment was conducted in Chennai, where
the average irradiance is proved to be 4.12 kWh/m2/day. The effect of
irradiance on conventional panel and PCM based panel and Isc, Voc,
Pmax variations are shown in Table 3 and Table 4. It is seen that, higher
Solar Energy 188 (2019) 327–338
Panel cooled with PCM and Aluminium
irradiance intensity led to increase in Pmax value with PCM-Aluminium
based module. Experimental results were tabulated for two days as
shown in tables (Table 3 and Table 4). From the Day 1 (Table 3),
maximum irradiance occurred at 10 A.M which was 211.5 W/m2, in
(9)
showed 21% increase. Similarly from Table 4, at peak irradiance of
189.5 W/m2 at 1P.M, PCM based solar module has shown increase in
Pmax by 32%. It can be inferred that increase in irradiance that causes
rise in temperature of the panel did not lower the Pmax value in case of
PV-PCM entrenched with aluminum panel. The experimental data col-
lected for the two days was also presented in the form of charts (Fig. 8
and Fig. 9) for better understanding about the variations of power for
the cooled panel with PCM and aluminium compared to the uncooled
panel.
5.2. Electrical characteristics
I-V characteristics of the solar module depends on Isc and Voc. Isc and
Voc depends on incident irradiance and temperature of the panel. Voc is
inversely proportional to the temperature of the module and therefore,
it reduces the output power with the increase in temperature, whereas
Isc increases slightly with higher temperature. The experiment is con-
ducted at varying range of irradiance and the readings are tabulated for
every 15 min interval. It is seen that, in the PCM based panel, there is
increase in both Pmax and Voc in spite of their inverse temperature re-
lationship, while in conventional panel both decrease. Increase in Voc is
slower at the starting, which then increases dramatically with time.
From the Table 3 and the Table 4, average value of Voc for both these
days is 4.38 V in case of PCM-Aluminum module, which is 10.6% in-
crease from normal solar panel without cooling. Initially Pmax for the
uncooled panel overtakes the value of the cooled panel. After 45 min
Pmax increases and it stabilizes with lesser deviations for a certain
period of time, while panel without PCM shows that, Pmax fluctuates
with larger step repeatedly with variation in irradiance. Maximum
power output on the Day 1 observed at 10:45 A.M, it increased by 31%
with cooled solar panel while uncooled panel’s maximum power (Pmax)
is equal to 1.2129 W. During the Day 2, at 10:45 A.M maximum power
output is 1.6353 W which is 29.4% increase from that of the normal
panel value.
5.3. Thermal regulation effects
Increase in ambient temperature of the panel affects the efficiency
of the panel. To improve the efficiency and performance of the panel,
thermal regulator PCM is filled inside the panel. To overcome the low
thermal conductivity of PCM, aluminium which has good thermal
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R. M., et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 327–338

DAY 1: Table 5
Efficiency of cooled and uncooled solar PV panel for Day 1.
Time Irradiance (W/ Efficiency of the Efficiency of the panel
(Hours) m2) normal panel without cooled with PCM and
cooling aluminium

9:00 136 20.57% 19.85%

9:15 122 23.48% 23.61%
9:30 140 21.91% 20.42%
9:45 175.2 17.79% 20.35%
10:00 211.5 15.33% 18.82%
10:15 166 20.08% 25.52%
9:48am 11:24am
10:30 176 16.41% 21.98%
10:45 175.3 19.17% 26.18%
11:00 195 17.25% 22.80%
11:15 173 18.90% 25.48%
11:30 158 19.93% 21.82%
11:45 189.5 17.02% 22.87%
12:00 194 15.56% 21.87%
12:15 180.8 18.16% 24.32%
12:30 182.4 17.99% 24.20%
12:45 194.5 15.81% 21.89%
13:00 140.2 20.55% 25.53%
13:15 174 17.53% 24.35%
13:30 166.5 17.92% 22.63%
13:45 153 18.74% 25.78%
14:00 155 15.58% 18.77%
14:15 146 19.41% 24.36%
12:23pm 1:50pm 14:30 127.5 21.36% 28.91%
14:45 123 21.38% 27.51%
15:00 120 21.86% 26.36%
DAY 2:

Table 6
Efficiency of cooled and uncooled solar PV panel for Day 2.
Time Irradiance (W/ Efficiency of the Efficiency of the panel
(Hours) m2) normal panel without cooled with PCM and
cooling aluminium

9:00 115 21.23% 20.89%

9:15 110.05 23.80% 18.80%
9:30 116.5 19.83% 18.16%
9:45 171.85 17.61% 19.61%
10:00 191.8 19.53% 20.31%
10:15 169.5 19.08% 23.62%
9:50am 11:24am 10:30 189.5 18.06% 21.61%
10:45 191.1 17.63% 23.70%
11:00 176.5 18.46% 24.98%
11:15 181 17.72% 23.63%
11:30 167.5 19.60% 26.21%
11:45 183.8 18.34% 24.27%
12:00 182 17.02% 23.71%
12:15 188 15.97% 22.55%
12:30 190 16.92% 22.96%
12:45 176 17.78% 24.55%
13:00 189.5 16.33% 22.54%
13:15 153.5 17.06% 26.02%
13:30 187.5 15.07% 21.49%
13:45 167 17.13% 23.89%
12:23pm 1:49pm
14:00
14:15
155
141
16.11%
20.12%
19.72%
25.93%
14:30 123 21.43% 27.56%
Fig. 10. FLIR images of solar PV panel at various time intervals. 14:45 126 21.65% 27.10%
15:00 120 22.50% 28.02%

conductivity is attached at the rear side of the panel. Thus, Pmax which
depends on the temperature is not affected, which certainly increases
the efficiency of the panel. FLIR thermal imaging camera that converts
thermal energy into visible light is used to evidently show the tem-
perature reduction by PV-PCM. 8 such images are attached for the Day
1 and the Day 2 for different timings are shown in Fig. 10. In the
images, Spot 1 indicates uncooled PV panel temperature, whereas Spot
2 indicates cooled PV panel temperature. Maximum temperature at
11:24 A.M on the Day 1 is 59.2 °C, PCM based PV panel reduces the
temperature to 46.2 °C. Thus, a temperature decrease of 13 °C was ob-
tained. On the Day 2 PCM based PV panel reduced the temperature of
the panel by 7.7 °C from 55.4 °C to 47.7 °C. Generally, with PCM, in-
itially the temperature increases steeply and after certain time the
temperature stabilizes with slight variations. It is due to the fact that,
initially PCM is solid, it melts to absorb latent heat from the PV panel
and thus it maintains stable temperature (in this study 46 °C−47 °C).
When PCM gets completely melted, it cannot absorb latent heat any-
more. Thus, it decreases the heat extraction which rises the panel
temperature during the solidification period comparatively (Khanna
et al., 2018a).

335
R. M., et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 327–338

Eĸciency of the normal panel without cooling Eĸciency of the panel cooled with PCM and aluminium
30.00%

25.00%

20.00%
EFFICIENCY
15.00%

10.00%

5.00%

0.00%

TIME (MINUTES)
Fig. 11. Efficiency graph between cooled and uncooled PV panel for day 1.

Eĸciency of the normal panel without cooling Eĸciency of the normal panel without cooling

35.00%
30.00%
EFFICIENCY

25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%

TIME (MINUTES)
Fig. 12. Efficiency graph between cooled and uncooled PV panel for day 2.

Table 7
Electrical efficiency of cooled and uncooled solar PV panel for Day 1.
Time (Hours) Temperature of normal panel Temperature of panel cooled with PCM Electrical efficiency of normal panel Electrical efficiency of panel cooled with
without cooling and aluminium without cooling PCM and aluminium

9:48 35.2 °C 36.2 °C 16.41% 16.33%

11:24 59.2 °C 46.2 °C 14.55% 15.48%
12:23 54.0 °C 49.4 °C 14.96% 15.31%
1:50 37.4 °C 34.7 °C 16.24% 16.45%

Table 8
Electrical efficiency of cooled and uncooled solar PV panel for Day 2.
Time (Hours) Temperature of normal panel Temperature of panel cooled with PCM Electrical efficiency of normal panel Electrical efficiency of panel cooled with
without cooling and aluminium without cooling PCM and aluminium

9:50 30.9 °C 33.3 °C 16.74% 16.56%

11:24 55.4 °C 47.7 °C 14.85% 15.44%
12:23 54.3 °C 49.5 °C 14.93% 15.30%
1:49 38.5 °C 36.5 °C 16.16% 16.31%

5.4. PV panel efficiency
Solar radiation falling on the panel is not completely converted into
electrical power, rather it rises the temperature of the solar cell leading
to losses which also affects the efficiency. From the above discussions, it
is evident that, with PCM and aluminum backed panel, Pmax which is
proportional to efficiency, is increased. Solar conversion efficiency is
directly proportional to Pmax and inversely proportional to irradiance E
at that instance. Taking both into account in Table 5, for optimal
irradiance of 120 W/m2 the efficiency of the PV-PCM panel is increased
from 21.86% to 26.36%. Similarly, in Table 6, at 120 W/m2 the max-
imum efficiency is shown by PCM cooled panel is 28.02%. Thus, the
average 24.4% increase in efficiency for the two days obtained from the
conventional PV panel is proven by this new method. For clear un-
derstanding about the rise in efficiency, the experimental data has been
converted into a chart and it is presented in (Fig. 11 and Fig. 12).
Electrical efficiency in terms of temperature (Eq. (6)) for different
observed temperature using thermal image is tabulated for two days

336
R. M., et al.
(Table 7 and Table 8). Considering maximum temperature of the un-
cooled panel as 59.2 °C (Table 7), with the temperature decrease using
PCM, the electrical efficiency is improved by 6.4% from 14.55% effi-
ciency of uncooled panel. Similarly at a maximum temperature of
55.4 °C of uncooled panel, with the use of PV-PCM entrenched alumi-
nium panel the temperature is reduced to 47.7 °C which gives increase
in electrical efficiency of 4%.
6. Conclusion
In this proposed work, the performance of PV-PCM with aluminium
sheet as TCE is analyzed by conducting an experiment under direct
sunlight. The output power and efficiency of this panel is compared
with that of uncooled conventional PV panel without PCM and alumi-
nium. The area of PCM and aluminium at the rear side of the PV panel is
0.0361 m2. Organic PCM of 0.03 m thickness is filled in the panel. To
improve the thermal conductivity of PCM and heat dissipation, alumi-
nium sheet of area 0.036 m2 is immediately placed at the rear side of
the PV panel. The effect of increase in temperature of the panel on Voc,
Isc, and efficiency is experimentally verified. The results prove that,
PCM with aluminium sheet as back plate in the solar PV panel has
improved the conversion efficiency on an average by 24.4%. With the
average temperature decrease of 10.35 °C, the overall average electrical
efficiency has been increased by 2%. Comparing the average output
power of the conventional uncooled PV panel, the PV-PCM based panel
with aluminium as TCE has an average increase of 30% of electrical
power.
After thorough investigations, it is concluded that, the PCM material
created a shift in temperature on the surface of the PV panel whereas
the aluminium sheet was used to accelerate the rate of diffusion of heat
to the surroundings. When compared to other existing methods of PV
panel cooling available in literatures, this PCM entrenched with alu-
minum sheet based PV panel shows better performance under natural
sun’s irradiance which is evident from the study. Thus, this method can
certainly be an effective approach to reduce the operating temperature
of the PV panel with the minimal cost, less weight along with an in-
crease in efficiency of the PV panel.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank the reviewers for their penetrating reviews and
the authors extend their genuine gratitude to the members of man-
agement of Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai,
Tamilnadu for their persistent efforts in performing research on re-
newable energy. The Project grant (EE 025) for the first author M.
Rajvikram provided by Tamilnadu State Council for Science and
Technology for the title “A novel methodology to improve the efficiency
of solar panel” is gratefully acknowledged. A similar idea has been filed
for patent at Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). The application number
is 201941002414.
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