A review of the most important cooling techniques to improve the performance of the photovoltaic cell

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) units operate in a contradiction; solar radiation is the essential input to produce electricity with Photovoltaic cells, but they drop in performance when the temperature increase by radiation. This work reviews the most important literature related to the research works submitted to achieve improved efficiency via convenient cooling systems. The passive cooling methods reduce the photovoltaic unit temperature in the range of 618 °C and enhance electrical efficiency up to 15 % maximum. While active cooling techniques, the performance is better as a reduction in photovoltaic unit temperature achieve to 33 °C. and an enhancement in electrical efficiency up to 22.2%. It can be expected that with the exponential growth of solar photovoltaic electricity worldwide, a compatible cooling system has become mandatory to ensure better harvest and use of energy.