Water cooling of Photovoltaic Panels

Photovoltaic cells loose efficiency as they heat up. [Citation Needed] To gain some extra performance I have set up a water cooling system for our 1. !"# solar system. $o far% I&ve determined this cooling can give an extra 1' ( 1)* electricity. Total cost of the system to date is around +)''. #ith hindsight% I could pro,a,ly do it a little cheaper.

Initial testing
-y initial testing was done with a garden hose supplying water to cool our solar panels. The very first tests were done with a garden sprin"ler to see what type of improvement could ,e achieved. .rom this wor" it seemed that /1'* improvement was possi,le

The plot a,ove is one of the trials I conducted using a sprin"ler as the water source. Note how rapidly the cooling effect drops off. N0. The slight tail on the first trial is not usual% the near vertical drop of the second is more typical.

This wor" also showed that the output increased almost immediately as the water was applied 1full effect in a couple of minutes2 and the effect reverted almost as 3uic"ly 1,ac" to ,aseline in 4 minutes2. 0oth lines on the plot were virtually vertical. .rom this I set up the garden sprays 5 guttering system to determine the physical setup and flow rates re3uired. This wor" indicated that I need ,etween ) and 6 75min for my setup 11' sprays 8 1' dri,,ling2. I then sourced a pump and set up the system as a whole.

Setup
The setup is 3uite simple. I have some standard garden sprays located at the top of my panels. These sprays are fed ,y a small 19 watt pump. -y panels are setup in two rows% with on top and 6 ,elow% with a small gap ,etween the rows 1say mm2. I have put a layer of duct tape ,etween the rows so I can feed most of the water to the top row which then runs down and across the lower row. I have a second delivery setup across the top of the lower row% ,ut it is now only delivering a very small amount of water 1,asically dripping water onto the panels% rather than spraying2. There are :gutters: ,elow each row of panels% which run the water ,ac" to a sump tan". The gutter for the top row really only catches water from the :odd: panel that doesn&t have a matching one in the lower row. I originally used a spare wheelie ,in as the sump% ,ut it crac"ed on the ,ottom. I don&t "now if there was a fault with that particular ,in% or if they aren&t up to the ;o,. <owever% I&ve noticed that the you can purchase 1''7 wheelie ,ins specifically for water carying 5 storage. I have since purchased a )1'7 grey water tan" from 0unnings. I&m 3uite happy with that setup. The su,mersi,le pump is in this sump tan" and is attached to a float. This float is ;ust to "eep the wiring ;oints a,ove the water level. The pump has a float switch attached to it so that it cuts out if the water level drops 1this got used when the wheelie ,in failed2. I also have a standard toilet cistern filler to "eep the water level in the tan". I have found I loose around !' 7itres per day when the system is running. $ome of that is evaporation% some is physical losses. The pump is powered from a 1) volt 5 1. = transformer and is connected to a standard mechanical timer. I currently run it from '>?!' to 1@?''. I may vary these time throughout the year

=n overview of our solar setup including water cooling.

= shot of the spray system I&m using across the top set of panels. These are standard half circle garden sprays. I&ve found a flow rate of ) to 6 75min is optimum for my setup.

= closer view of the sprays in action.

The ;oin ,etween the two rows of panels. Note the duct tape to allow the water to run over the second row. There is also a second delivery system. This is typically only set to :dri,,le: water

This is the :guttering: system on the ,ottom row of panels. The top row has something similar. The guttering is ;ust some metal A shaped material that I found at 0unnings. $ince then% a new 0unnings has opened in my area and they stoc" some cheap 1/+) 5 length2 plastic proper gutter material that would ,e much ,etter than this.

This is our sump tan". I have the pump attached to a float 1soft drin" ,ottle2 so I can "eep the electrical connections a,ove water. This may not ,e necessary% ,ut it&s a precaution I ta"e. Note the float switch 1white o,;ect ,elow the softdrin" ,ottle2 on attached to the pump 1pump is only partially visi,le due to glare on the water2.

Pump
<aving the right pump is the "ey to ma"ing this system via,le. The right pump needs to ,e?

7ow powered $ufficient flow rate 1at the head preassure2 Belia,le

The pump I&m using is a low power 119 watt2 centrifical pump that I purchased from e0ay 1e,ay seller Ba,,it Clectronics2 I have found that I only need a flow rate of ) ( 6 75min to my panels to get a little over 1'* performance improvement. Prior to receiving the pump% I did some trials with a garden hose. .rom this I found that over 6 75minute% the water was ;ust spraying and ,eing lost on the ,reeDe% with no further output improvement. 7ess than ) 75minute% the performance improvement dropped off Eur house is only single story and I can locate the pump 5 sump near the solar setup% so I can still get ade3uate flow from this pump. I chose this pump as it draws only 19 watts and appeared to have ade3uate flow for my purposes.

Profile: This is ,rand new water pump P(!9F% high 3uality and relia,le. $uita,le for? =3uarium% solar(panel circulate system% fountain% electronic refrigerator% water heater etc. Features: Bated voltage? 1)G HC Bated current? 1.6 = Capacity? I75-in 1111JP<2 Pump head? Noise? 4K6'd0=51'cm #or"ing temperature? (! C / 89'C $ervice life? )@''' hours up -otor? HC ,rushless motor Pump? $u,mersi,le% centrifugal pump #eight? ))'g 1I.9 oD2 $iDe? 1'I x x 69mm 16.) x ).) x 1.> inch2

The pump cost /+!' delivered.

This is a plot of the theoretical characteristics of this pump. It agrees fairly well with my o,served flow rate. N0. If this pump were insufficient for my needs% I would pro,a,ly loo" into purchasing a small 1)G diaphragm pump. There seem to ,e a num,er of them availa,le on e0ay. Their power consumption is typically higher than this pump% ,ut their output is typically higher. Lou may ,e a,le to derate it and run it at a lower wattage and achieve the desired result.

New Pump
Anfortunately I managed to wrec" my original pump 1I cleaned a lot of ash from near,y grass fires from my gutters and allowed the water to run ,ac" to the sump. =pprently the fine gunge in the water was enough to sandpaper the motor spindle to death ?1 I have since purchased a small diaphragm pump.

12 Volt, 4 ! "#min Pump c#w !$ PSI Pressure Switch Suits %aravans, &V, 'griculture, Solar ( Water )ransfer

)he 12 V*% permanent magnet motor is thermall+ protecte, an, splash proof The Pump is a )(cham,er positive displacement% self priming unit

capa,le of ,eing run dry 7i3uid Temperature? 16'M. 1@'MC2 -ax. Priming Capa,ilities? 6 feet 11.) m2 suction lift -ax Pressure? ! P$I Inlet5Eutlet Ports? !59N hose ,ar, #eight?'.@"g 11.) l,s2 Certifications? CC =pprovals Current Hraw? !. =mps

This new pump draws up to 6) #atts. This is ;ust over dou,le my previous pump% ,ut it is still low enough to ma"e it ecconomical to run. 0elow are the characteristics of the new pump. It&s measured output of !75min is pretty close to the theoretical value 1especially as that graph doesn&t ta"e viscosity into account2. The small increase in output from the new pump is notica,le in the coverage from the sprays.

The only

Performance
0elow are a couple comparisons of two consecutive days production with and without the water cooling. #e&ve had a considera,le amount of cloudy 5 rainy weather since I&ve set up this system% so it&s difficult to get good &sunny day& graphs for comarison.

The plot a,ove is for the first day that I had the actual pump 1the comparison day is actually from the previous wee"% not the previous day% that may explain the slightly different underlying curve2. I didn&t turn the pump on till around 1'?!' =-. prior to that I did some wor" on the system to reduce some physical losses. Huring this time I was physically ,loc"ing a portion of some of the panels. The ;ump in production can ,e clearly seen when the cooling was started. The total improvement in output for the day is ;ust over >*.

This is a plot from another pair of consecutive days. 0oth days were pretty good till lunch time% then the clouds came in. It&s a little hard to see from this graph% ,ut my perception is that even when there are clouds comming past% the :re,ound: is much greater with the water cooling. .or example% without cooling I would rarely see a spi"e O 1%6'' watts% with cooling spi"es of 1% '' ( 1%@'' are regular% and O 1%I'' is not unheard of. 0asically% I ,elieve I&m still getting a significant ,enefit even on relatively cloudy days. I record the PG output to a data,ase at 1 minute intervals. I have run some data,ase 3ueries to 3uantify the improvement. I compared the averaged output for the same minute periods each day where ,oth were producing over '' watts 1ie not in heavy shadow2.

'verage increase -watts. Percentage increase 1 ' 1!*

I have also run some :spot: tests to determine the output change caused ,y the water ,eing turned on or off.

)ime of ,a+ /n # /ff Intial watts Final Watts Percent change Notes 1@?6 En @'> @>9 1).9* Pump 5 sprays 1@?'' Eff >!' 9) 1).I* Pump 5 sprays '9?'' En !I' 6)' 11.>* Pump 5 sprays 1!?1' En 1)1' 1! ' 1'.6* $prin"ler 1!?) Eff 1!'' 1)'' 9.!* $prin"ler 1!? ' En 11@' 1)I' 9.I* $prin"ler 16?1 Eff 1)@' 11 ' >.@* $prin"ler
These results tend to indicate that around 1'* or more production can ,e achieved at virtually any production level% not ;ust pea" production times. To me that indicates I can hope to get a 1'* improvement on my annual production 1not ;ust pea" production2. I intend to run some further tests when we get some sunny days having the water alternating on off for 1 or !' minute intervals.

/n0/ff cooling trial

I was finally a,le to do an on5off cooling trial to try and see how the effect went throughout the day. $ee ,elow?

Huring this trial I ran the cooling !' minutes on 5 !' minutes off from 9?!'=on. Cven at 4 '' #atts output% the system made ,ac" ) #atts% which is more than the pump cost 119#atts2.
)ime '9?!' '>?'' '>?!' 1'?'' 1'?!' 11?'' 11?!' /n # /ff 'ctual &ea,ing &ea,ing # 1st &ea,ing *ifference 2 *ifference Eff P En 69 1' ) .1 * En P Eff @!' @9' ' I.>6* Eff P En @I' I1' 6' .>I* En P Eff >1' >9' I' I.@>* Eff P En >!' 1''' I' I. !* En P Eff 116' 1'@' 9' I. * Eff P En 1'@' 116' 9' I. *

1)?'' En P Eff 11)'

1)!'

11'

>.9)*

N0. =t this time we had a significant afternoon shading issue which has since ,een rectified.

Future improvements
3ottom gutter
The original small ,ottom gutter has now ,een replaced with larger normal plastic guttering. This is wor"ing much ,etter and there is no longer any physical losses of water missing the guttering and running onto the ground. The gutter I have there at the moment is not really the ,est. It is a little too small 1it&s fine for the ,ottom of the first row2. $ome of the water either tea(pots ,ac" around the solar panel or :;umps: over the guttering. I have some duct tape in place a the moment to minimise this. = ,etter solution would ,e some cheap plastic guttering that I&ve seen at the hardware shop. This guttering is significantly wider so missing the gutter would no longer ,e an issue.

*uct tape
The duct tape I&ve ,een using was a pretty old 5 cheap roll. This tape isn&t very AG sta,le and it tends to unstic" after a while. I should get some ,etter tape for this system% especially the ;oint ,etween the two rows of panels.

Water ,eliver+ s+stem for top row

There are ) sprays per panel set up. The water tends to run in a )'() cm wide stream from each. This means that the water covers only a ,it over '* of the panel surface. = little more coverage may ,e advantageous% although only slightly. I could pro,a,ly loo" at different setups so that I get ,etter coverage. Possi,ly ,y having a :dripper: tu,e running across the top of the row with a num,er of drips per panel instead of the sprays. N0. #hen I originally experimented with this system 1using a garden hose as the water source2. I didn&t get much% if any% improvement when I increased the water flow. I suspect that even though there isn&t total coverage% the water is still removing a significant proportion of the heat from the system. The top covering is still warm to the touch 1,ut not hot2 where there is no water% ,ut that isn&t the top of the actual PG cell. I suspect that the water is removing a significant amount of the heat from the actual PG cells ,elow% even though it isn&t directly a,ove them.

%omputer control of pump

Qaycar has a remote switch "it availa,le http?55www.;aycar.com.au5productGiew.aspR IHKFC 6I!SC=TIHK) SformKC=TS$A0C=TIHK 99. #ith one of these it would ,e possi,le to have a 1)G relay control the pump. I also ta"e readings from the inverter each minute. I could stop the pump if the monitoring PC determined that there wasn&t enough output to ma"e it worth while.

This is a low priority ;o, as the cooling does seem to give ,enefits unless there is very heavy cloud or it is actually raining.