Thermal Efficiency Enhancement of PV Panel Through Integration of PCM Coolant

This paper describes the design and construction of a cooling mechanism for a solar photovoltaic (SPV) panel using petrolatum as the PCM material of choice. PCM pouches were placed on the rear of the SPV panel for absorption and storage and the heat is dissipated from the rear surface of the SPV panel for around 6 h. This helps maintain the panel’s surface at an optimum temperature. PCM coolant reduced the panel temperature by 15.5% and increased the power generation by 3.5%. The experiments on the panel with the PCM pouches demonstrated the feasibility of petrolatum as a PCM with regard to solar panel cooling.