Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Applied System Innovation

IEEE-ICASI 2017 - Meen, Prior & Lam (Eds)

Increasing Efficiency of an Electricity Production System from Solar Energy with a

Method of Reducing Solar Panel Temperature

Bancha Sreewirote 1, Akeratana Noppakant 1, and Chaichan Pothisarn 2

1
Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Thonburi University, Bangkok, Thailand
2
Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand
E-mail: srbancha7@gmail.com, chaichan.po@kmitl.ac.th

shading, global solar radiation intensity, spectrum and angle of

Abstract
Renewable energy sources have been of great interest to
electricity producers in Thailand. There are many renewable
energy sources usually used: wind power, hydropower,
geothermal energy, bio energy and solar energy. Thailand is
located near the equator, leading to high solar radiation all year.
Hence, production of electricity from solar energy has become
a more reasonable alternative than other resources in order to
solve energy crisis. However, a solar energy system has a
negative point, which is the high temperature of a solar panel,
resulting in reduced efficiency of electricity production.
Typically, Thailand has tropical monsoon climate, hence hot
weather, especially during the hottest time of the year (from
March to May), when temperature usually reaches up to 40 °C.
In this paper, an experimental setup of a solar energy system
integrated with a heat ventilation system is proposed. The
experimental setup consists of a 258-watt solar panel, a charge
controller, an inverter, a battery, a temperature controller and a
cooling system. To decrease temperature of the solar panel, a
cooling system of a vehicle is modified. Experimental results
indicate that, at temperature of 35-38 °C, it can be noticed that
the solar panel can generate voltage around 34 – 35 V; the
temperature of the solar panel is around 50 – 55 °C. When the
cooling system is activated, the solar panel temperature is
significantly decreased from 50 – 55 °C to 25 – 35 °C. Hence,
the solar panel can deliver voltage of around 43 – 45 V.
Key words: solar panel, cooling system, temperature and
renewable energy
Introduction
Nowadays the world is facing energy problems, global
warming, lack of energy supplies and environmental concerns
as air pollution. To mitigate these problems, fossil fuel
replacement with renewable energy is proposed. Solar energy
is one of the most popular for alternative energy sources
because it is a friendly environmental and abundant energy
sources [1]. Theoretically, sunlight is directly converted into
electrical energy by solar cells. However, thermal energy from
the son has a negative effect on the process of electrical
generation from solar energy. Efficiency of solar cell systems is
not only countable on electrical characteristics of solar cells:
maximum power, maximum power voltage, maximum power
current, open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, but also
relies upon ambient temperature, relative humidity, dust,
irradiance [2]-[3]. Thus, electricity converted from solar
energy is somewhat low efficiency, lower than 20%. The other
energy is adsorbed to solar cells as thermal energy [4].
There are many research articles claim that the loss of solar
cells efficiency and energy production are caused by increasing
of the panel temperature. A Swapnil’s article [5] presents that
solar cells located in high altitude have better performance
owing to low temperature, and indicates that temperature has
significant influence on the conversion process of solar cells.
Thus, solar panels efficiency and the energy output of solar
cells rely directly on ambient temperature. A Furkan’s work [6]
studies contributing factors in solar cells efficiency: cell
temperature, maximum power point tracking and energy
conversion efficiency. The results verify that if the temperature
of solar cells decreases, they can provide higher voltage.
Yanping [7] develops theoretical models to assess solar
panel temperature used in realistic scenarios. The effects of
solar panel temperature are analyzed based on real time
temperature measurement of solar cells. Results show that solar
cells with a temperature coefficient in range of -0.21% to
0.50% have an approximate efficiency loss between 2.9% and
9.0%. Alonso’s work [8] applies several international standards
to calculate Nominal Operation Cell Temperature (NOCT) for
different types of solar panels. The NOCT values are used to
estimate yearly solar panel temperature and analyze
temperature effects. Additionally, the NOCT is developed for
tropical regions and it is called as the tropical Field Operation
Cell Temperature (tFOCT) [9]. Measuring conditions which
are solar radiation, ambient temperature, and wind speed are
used in a new equation for calculating solar cell temperature.
Davud’s paper [10] investigates effects of temperature on the
electrical parameters of solar cells. Experimental results
present that output power, open circuit voltage, short circuit
current, and fill factors change when temperature is various.
Thus, increasing temperature in solar cells results in voltage
decrease while the current slightly increases.
To increase solar cell efficiency, there are various cooling
techniques for solar cells, which have been proposed. The
cooling system of solar cells including passive cooling and
phase change materials based on thermal energy storage and
active cooling is conducted by Sargunanathan et al [11]. Erdem
et al. [12] utilizes passive cooling, an aluminum heat sink, to
dissipate waste heat from solar cells. Experimental results show
that solar cell efficiency in terms of energy and power
conversion efficiency can be increased around 20% in the
power output by using the proposed method.
Next, passive cooling which is a suspended thin flat metallic

1308 - ISBN 978-1-5090-4897-7

 Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Applied System Innovation
IEEE-ICASI 2017 - Meen, Prior & Lam (Eds)

sheet to improve overall solar cell performance is conducted by

Tonui’s work [13]. However, the cooling methods are low
efficiency because natural convection is limited in thermal
performance. Musthafa’s paper [14] presents water cooling
used to reduce the operating temperature of solar cells for
increasing its energy output. By experiment, solar cells
integrated with and without water cooling are compared. It can
be seen that the solar cells with water cooling are dropped
operating temperature by 4°C, hence, increasing in efficiency
of 12%. By contrast, without water cooling, it only has
efficiency of 8-9%. Yuechao et al. [15] employ the technology
of micro-heat-pipe array to dissipate heat from operating
temperature of solar cells. This proposed method can solve the
Fig. 1. circuit diagram of a photovoltaic system
problem of low energy output efficiency and thermal failure
caused by high solar cell temperature. To decrease operating
temperature and increase power output efficiency, cooling
system consisting of a heat pipe filled with Acetone is
conducted by Benuel et al. [16]. Results show that the power
Discharge
output of solar cell with the cooling system is 4.7 to 5.2 times line
Evaporator
more than a system without the cooling.
From above research studies, there are several articles which Expansion
study and develop technology for increasing efficiency of valve
Compressor
electrical production from solar energy by reducing
temperature of solar cells. In this study, the technique used is a
Condensor Filter-Dryer receiver
cooling system of a vehicle to decrease temperature of the solar
panel. In practice, an experimental setup of a solar energy
Fig. 2. the components of a cooling system of a vehicle
system integrated with a heat ventilation system is built. The
experimental test bench consists of a 258-watt solar panel, a Solar panel 350W
charge controller, an inverter, a battery, a temperature 1
2
7
8
X1 Temperature
controller and a cooling system. 1 2 3 9 + -
4 Control 10
N
L

5 11
X1 , 2 Thermocouprl
Thermocouple
Fuse 40A 6 12 X1 , 1

Experimental setup
Charge Controller
Circuit + -
breaker
An experimental model is built to test a cooling system, 40A
Control box
Battery

consisting of a photovoltaic system and a thermal ventilation + - - + + -

Battery
12V

system. Fig. 1 shows a circuit diagram of the photovoltaic X2 1 2 3 4 5 6 120Ah

system. A 350W solar panel is selected to generate electricity Switching DC V DC A Rsh

(direct current) into the system. A control box comprises two Powersupply + - + -
X2 , 1

X2 , 2
X2 , 1

X2 , 2

Motor Fan
parts: a charger controller is used to limit electrical current
Bridge Rectif Relay
220 V 220 V L N+ - + -
+ -
which is charged or discharged from a battery, and an inverter
X2 , 6
X2 , 5
X3 , 5

is used to convert direct current from the solar panel to loads X3 1 2 3 4 5 6

with alternating current. Next, the components of a cooling + - + - + - Hot Fan

system of a vehicle are presented in Fig. 2. The vehicle’s 12 VDC

X3 , 1

X3 , 2
X3 , 3

X3 , 4

cooling system is modified to be the thermal ventilation system Compresser Cool Fan
12 VDC 12 VDC
which is installed under the solar panel to reduce operating
temperature of the solar cell. The thermal ventilation system
Fig. 3. the schematic diagram of temperature control
consists of a compressor swash plate, an evaporator, a
condenser, a filter – dryer receiver, an expansion valve and a
Experimental Results
discharge line, as well as a 1-phase 220V 2hp motor used to
drive the compressor.
To evaluate correlation between electrical parameters and
A temperature control system is installed to control
operating temperature of a solar panel, experiment is divided
compressor operation which switches on/off the cooling system
into two case studies: a photovoltaic system without the thermal
at a set temperature value, and display values of voltage,
ventilation system and a photovoltaic system with the thermal
current and temperature to users. The temperature control
ventilation system. Typically, electrical energy generated from
system is designed to operate when ambient temperature is
a solar panel is discontinuous, depending on solar irradiance
higher than 25 °C, and is shown by a schematic diagram in Fig.
and temperature. Thus, results are tested five days (test1, test2,
3.
test3, test4, and test5) in each case study to find trends of
electrical parameters as shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 for the cases
of without the thermal ventilation system and with the thermal
ventilation system respectively. The electrical parameters

ISBN 978-1-5090-4897-7 - 1309

Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Applied System Innovation
IEEE-ICASI 2017 - Meen, Prior & Lam (Eds)

which are voltage, current and power are measured in twelve 60

Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5
hours per day from 6:00 am. to 6:00 pm. The electrical
parameters are measured by a digital multimeter and 50

temperature is recorded with a thermometer.

Voltage (V)
40

60
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5
30

50

20
Voltage (V)

6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00
40 Time

30 (a) Voltage
9
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5

20
6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 8
Time

Current (A)
(a) Voltage 7

9
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5
6

8
Current (A)

5
6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00
7
Time

6 (b) Current
360
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5
5 340
6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00
Time 320

300
Power (W)

(b) Current
280
360
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5 260
340
240
320
220
300
Power (W)

200
6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00
280
Time
260

240 (c) Power

220
200
6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00
(c) Power
Fig. 4. the output of electrical parameters of the solar panel in the
case of without the thermal ventilation system
Fig. 4 shows the voltage, current, and power of the solar
panel in the case of without the thermal ventilation system.
When solar irradiance is high, the voltage produced by a solar
panel will be high. On the other hand, the voltage decreases
when solar irradiance falls. In periods of 11:00 am. to 2:00 pm.,
there is highest solar irradiance values resulting in the solar
panel can generate maximum voltage of 35-37V, current of
7.2-7.6A, and power of 252-281W. However, ambient
temperature is high, leading to increasing in solar panel
temperature (43-53 °C). It can be seen that the photovoltaic
system cannot provide electrical energy at the rate of output
power.
Fig. 5. the output of electrical parameters of the solar panel in the
case of with the thermal ventilation system
12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00
Time
Fig. 5 shows the results of electrical parameters in the case of
with the thermal ventilation system. While the thermal
ventilation system is operated, the temperature of the solar
panel decreases to be 25-35°C. For this reason, the
photovoltaic system can generate output power more than the
case of without the thermal ventilation system; voltage is
43-45V, current is 7.3-7.7A, and power is 314-346W. By
comparing with the photovoltaic system without the thermal
ventilation system, the output voltage and output power are
higher while the output current is quite similar. It is found that
the thermal ventilation controls operating temperature of the
solar panel successfully. Thus, the solar panel is able to
produce electrical energy at the rate of output power. In
addition, the characteristic changing of the voltage and current
of the solar panel based on operating temperature in both cases
is depicted in Fig. 6 (a) and Fig. 6 (b) respectively. The system
integrated with the thermal ventilation system can provide
higher voltage generating greater output power.

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 Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Applied System Innovation
IEEE-ICASI 2017 - Meen, Prior & Lam (Eds)

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9

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Conclusion
In photovoltaic system evaluation, usually, a photovoltaic
system conventionally installed has low efficiency due to the
effect of high temperature. Especially, around midday that has
high solar irradiance and temperature, which causes a solar
panel less effective to generate output power. In this paper, the
thermal ventilation system has been proposed in order to
decrease operating temperature of a solar panel. The results
showed that the system integrated with the thermal ventilation
system enabled the output of voltage, current, and power to
increase. The system without the thermal ventilation system
gives voltage of 34-35V and current of 7.2-7.6A, resulting in
low output power (252-281W). On the other hand, the system
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its panel and the surfaces of a solar panel. The voltage of a solar
panel is reliable on electrical properties and operating
temperature of a solar panel.
Acknowledgment
The author wishes to acknowledge financial support from
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