QUANTIFYING THE EFFECTS OF CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER ON PHOTOVOLTAIC PERFORMANCE AND OPTIMAL TILT ANGLE

Electrical performance of photovoltaic (PV) cells are affected by their operating temperatures, which lead to changes in the performance of the PV panel. The performance and efficiency of a PV system is dependent upon many factors, such as its angle of incidence, accumulation of dust, speed and direction of natural winds. Particularly, angle of incidence between solar rays and PV modules is the most important. This paper will focus on developing a numerical tool for predicting the optimal tilt angle, based on wind flow over PV panel in a fixed tilt array, in order to observe the effects on performance. A 1.651 m long by 0.991 m wide solar PV panel is used in the analysis. The panel is mounted on top of a tall building and the tilt angle is fixed at one angle. This paper will observe how the PV panel is affected by wind flow and how the optimal tilt angle will change, and if it is necessary to account for convection. Increasing convective heat transfer has the potential to reduce the operating temperatures of photovoltaic solar panels thus increasing their efficiency and producing more power. This relationship was used in a numerical tool to predict the performance of the panel at different tilt angles and different wind speeds. The results show that wind speed and direction do affect power output and that designers should account for convective effects when designing positioning and orientation of solar panels.