Numerical investigations of solar cell temperature for photovoltaic concentrator system with and without passive cooling arrangements

The numerical study of solar cell temperature for concentrating PV with concentration ratio of 10× is presented in this paper. A two dimensional thermal model has been developed to predict the temperature for PV concentrator system (solar cell and lens) with and without passive cooling arrangements. Based on a thermal model, the result shows that maximum of four numbers of uniform fins of 5 mm height and 1 mm thickness can be effectively used to reduce the solar cell temperature. In addition to that, the effects of ambient temperature and solar radiation intensity on the solar cell temperature have also been investigated for the system with and without cooling fins. Based on the influencing parameters of ambient temperature and solar radiation, two separate solar cell temperature correlations has been proposed for systems with and without cooling fins to predict the cell temperature for the range of given parameters. In our previous studies, the present 2-D model was extensively validated with a comprehensive unified model [8], [9] and [10].

► An in-house developed 2D numerical codes for photovoltaic application.
► Enhancing efficiencies of PV system through fins and without fins.
► Ambient temperature co-relation for operating cell temperatures.
► Influences of solar cell temperature with solar radiation.