Sharif Digital Repository

Electrical efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) modules depends on their working temperature. Effective cooling is required in order to achieve higher performance. Pulsating heat pipes (PHPs) are compact heat transfer devices with high effective thermal performance due to the two-phase heat transfer mechanism. Since the lower temperature of PV modules leads to higher electricity generation and better efficiency, PHPs can be applied for PV cooling. In this work, the PV cooling by applying a single turn PHP is numerically investigated. In addition, a copper fin with the same dimensions as the PHP for cooling the PV panel is simulated to compare the performance of the PHP with a solid metal like... 

Photovoltaic (PV) panels provide a suitable way for the direct conversion of solar energy into electricity. The electrical output and efficiency of PV modules are dependent on working temperature. The present study contributes to investigate the efficiency of utilizing a flat plate closed-loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) to cool down a PV panel in both thermal and economic aspects. Accordingly, a numerical investigation is employed to obtain the surface temperature and electrical gain of the PV panel through four scenarios, including natural cooling without additional equipment, CLPHP-based passive cooling, CLPHP-based active cooling, and a conventional flat plate cooling methods. The...