Thermal regulation of partially floating photovoltaics for enhanced electricity production: A modeling and experimental analysis
- Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments Part B, 53, p.102582, 2022 .
Artículo
The thermal regulation of the floating photovoltaic (FPV) system increases its electrical potential. In this study, a partially floating photovoltaic (PFPV) system was examined by submerging a portion of the FPV module to realize excess heat release. An appropriate MATLAB/Simulink model was constructed for a comparative study of three FPV configurations to reveal the electrical benefits of the PFPV system. The proposed model was validated via experimental work under actual outdoor conditions, which revealed well-matched results. According to the modeling findings, submerging half of the PV module in the water body realized a temperature of 29.71 ◦C, a temperature drop of 28.24 percent compared with that of the typical FPV system (41.40 ◦C). The electrical power generated increased by 5.57 percent when 25 percent of the active area of the PFPV system was submerged. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the electrical efficiency of the PFPV module reached 15.72 percent when 25 percent of the PFPV system was submerged, achieving an efficiency improvement of 3.95 percent compared with the conventional FPV system. The superiority of the electrical performance of the PFPV system with a submerged area of 25 percent in the modeling and its experimental validation ensure the proposed concept validity