Heat Transfer Engineering, Vol.40, No.13-14, 1126-1136, 2019
Evaporation Cooling Using a Bionic Micro Porous Evaporation System
The temperature increase due to incident solar radiation has an adverse impact on the electrical output of photovoltaic (PV) modules. A theoretical model of the fabricated and tested bionic evaporation backside cooling was established and verified by experimental investigation. A microfluidic structure featuring micropores consists of two polymer layers attached on the backside of a PV cell model. The thermal performance of roof-mounted PV modules with rear panel air ventilation was mathematically described and extended by the cooling capabilities of the developed bionic evaporation foil. The results of experimental investigations performed in a roof equivalent test environment consisting of a wind tunnel within a climate chamber are in good accordance to the established model. Experimentally, temperature reductions at low incident solar power of less than 575 W causing an efficiency gain for up to 4.8% have been demonstrated while the model implicates an efficiency increase of 10% for real roof systems at an incident solar radiation of 1000 W.