Performance Test Method for Determining the Specification of a Photovoltaic Module Cooling System Using Electric Heaters as Heat Sources

The performance of photovoltaic modules (PVM) is very sensitive to temperature changes of the PVM surface. Increasing the PVM temperature can reduce its performance. A cooling system is required to maintain PVM performance. This study aims to determine the specifications of the PVM cooling system that will be used to absorb heat generated so that PVM performance can be maintained. The research method that was carried out was to perform a test of the PVM cooling system in the laboratory. The heat source comes from an electric heater. The temperature of the evaporator, adiabatic, condenser, and cooling air of the condenser was measured to determine the thermal resistance and absorbed heat by the PVM cooler. The test results showed that the performance of the PVM cooler is affected by the evaporator temperature. At low temperatures the thermal resistance is high and the absorbed heat is small, while at high temperatures the thermal resistance is small and the absorbed heat is large. The PVM coolers can be specified as follows: Absorbed heat range from 9–300 watts, and the thermal resistance range is 0.12–1.05 C/Watt. The PVM cooler is heat pipe based and consists of nine heat pipes made of copper pipe with a diameter of 19.05 mm (3/4 in) and fiber carbon wicked. PVM coolers are grouped into three groups, namely 425 mm, 460 mm, and 860 mm lengths.