International Journal of Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH), Vol.12, No.

2/3, August 2023

EFFECT OF PASSIVE COOLING ON THE

PERFORMANCE OF PHOTOVOLTIC SOLAR PANELS
OPERATING IN EXTREMELY HOT WEATHER
Mohammad Zuhour, Osama M. Ibrahim, Nawaf Aljuwayhel

Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering & Petroleum,

Kuwait University, Kuwait

ABSTRACT
The peak power output of Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels is typically rated at 25°C, but in hot weather,
their operating temperature rises significantly, reducing energy efficiency and power output. This study
investigates a passive air convection cooling method to enhance PV panel performance. It examines the
impact of adding fins for improved convective heat transfer on the efficiency and power production of PV
polycrystalline solar panels in high-temperature environments. Numerical evaluations using one-
dimensional thermal models were conducted to predict the panel's hourly average temperature, efficiency,
and power output with and without fins. Without fins, the panel had a yearly average temperature of 35°C,
efficiency of 15.0%, and total annual power output of 340 kWh/m². Simulations with rectangular pin fins
resulted in a yearly average panel temperature of 28°C, efficiency of 16.1%, and total annual power output
of 365 kWh/m², a 7.3% increase with an additional weight of 5.3 kg/m². Triangular pin fins yielded a yearly
average panel temperature of 30°C, efficiency of 15.8%, and total annual power output of 358 kWh/m², a
5.2% increase with an additional weight of 1.8 kg/m². In conclusion, passive air cooling improves PV panel
power output by 5 to 7% in extremely hot and dry climates, with additional fin material weighing 1.8 to 5.3
kg/m². One-dimensional heat transfer models effectively provide hourly simulation results for a full year.

KEYWORDS
Photovoltaic Solar Panels, Passive Cooling, Fins, Thermal Analysis.

1. INTRODUCTION
Photovoltaic (PV) solar technologies have become increasingly important as they are essential to
the energy transition to a sustainable future. However, PV solar panels convert only a small part
of the incident solar radiation to electricity. The remaining amount of solar irradiation converts to
heat, which increases the cells' temperature and reduces the PV solar panel's performance.

Reducing the PV solar panel temperature is one of the main challenges facing its operation in
extremely hot weather. Proper cooling improves the PV solar modules' energy efficiency by
decreasing its surface's operating temperature and maintaining it for optimum operation. As a
result, solar panels tend to perform better in colder climates than hotter environments. The power
output of photovoltaic (PV) panels is directly influenced by the panel's temperature, with an
inverse relationship observed: as the panel temperature rises, the PV power output decreases. To
increase power output, various cooling methods for PV panels have been explored by researchers.
These methods can be categorized into active and passive cooling. Active cooling involves the
consumption of additional power to remove heat from the PV panel, while passive cooling relies
on natural convection, eliminating the need for extra power consumption.

DOI:10.14810/ijmech.2023.12301 1
 International Journal of Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH), Vol.12, No.2/3, August 2023

An example of an active cooling method was investigated by [1]. They experimentally tested an
active water-cooling method of PV solar panels integrated with a water desalination system. The
cooling water was circulated in an open cycle using two pumps. The results showed an increase
in power generation by roughly 14%. [2] performed an experimental study using a forced air-
cooling method to enhance the performance of a PV solar panel in Pakistan. They concluded that
adopting an active air-cooling strategy increased energy efficiency by 7.2%. [3] alternately
proposed an active cooling system by spraying water on both sides of solar panels. Their
experimental study was carried out in Croatia. They reported a drop in the PV solar module
temperature as high as 30°C with an improved electrical efficiency of up to 14%. [4]
experimented with active cooling PV panels in South Korea by combining a PV module with an
air solar thermal collector. Their results indicated an average thermal efficiency of 22% and a PV
solar module efficiency of 15%.

An example of a passive cooling method, on the other hand, was proposed by [5]. They examine
the enhancement of PV solar panel power production by passive cooling, numerically, using heat
sinks with perforated fins in Romania's climate. Their results predicted a rise in power production
by 6.5%. Similar numerical studies on passive cooling methods using air-cooled fins were
performed by [6-10]. Their findings show a temperature drop in the PV solar panel by 7 – 13 °C
after using heat sinks. [11] performed an experimental study on PV panels with and without fins.
Their results showed that the power output was improved by 5.5% due to fin cooling. [12] tested
a simple passive cooling system with cotton wick structures for standalone flat PV solar modules
in India. Their results show a significant drop in the PV solar modules' temperature, with a
maximum module efficiency of 10.4% compared to 9% without a cooling arrangement.

The literature survey reveals several studies on passive and active cooling to lower the PV solar
panels operating temperature and improve performance. In addition, limited research papers
considered hourly simulations using weather data for a whole year to investigate the performance
of PV solar panels in extremely hot weather where water is scarce, such as in Kuwait. Therefore,
this research focuses on the impact of passive cooling via adding fins to enhance the convective
heat transfer on the energy efficiency and power production of PV polycrystalline solar panels
operating in an extremely high-temperature environment.

Heat sinks can be added to the rear of the PV solar panels to allow natural cooling. Aluminum
alloy 1050 AL was used in this study for its high thermal conductivity and lightweight. The
advantage of using the heat sink is to increase the contact surface area with the surrounding air. In
our case, the standard crystalline module PV panel was selected. In one dimensional model, the
PV solar panel was considered a single layer for both cases with and without fins. This research
examines the impact of passive cooling by adding fins to improve the convective heat transfer on
the efficiency and power production of PV polycrystalline solar panels operating in high-
temperature environments.

2. WEATHER DATA
The analytical thermal model for PV solar panels with and without fins developed in this study
was based on a steady-state one-dimensional hourly simulation for an entire year. The weather
data used in all simulations were from [13]. At a typical meteorological year of average solar
climate (P50) hourly values. The weather data were collected from Umm Gudair, Kuwait, at
latitude (ϕ = 28.713889°) and longitude (Lo = 47.780556°). They were used to study the effects
of extremely hot and dry weather on the performance of PV solar panels. The hourly weather data
represent an average of 19 years of solar radiation, air temperature, and wind speed.

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Figure 1 shows Kuwait's maximum and minimum air temperature for a typical year. The
maximum temperature in summar approaches 50°C, and the low in winter is less than 5°C, with a
yearly average of 26°C. While Figure 2 shows the daily solar radiation, with an average of 6,200
Wh/m2 ranging between 342 to 8,088 Wh/m2. The low solar radiation values indicate cloudy
days with unavailable direct sun radiation. Furthermore, Figure 3 shows the monthly solar
radiation, with an average of 189 kWh/m2, a minimum of 132 kWh/m2, and a maximum of 234
kWh/m2.

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 International Journal of Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH), Vol.12, No.2/3, August 2023

Figure 3. Total monthly solar radiation.

Figures 4 and 5, on the other hand, illustrate wind speed and incident radiation versus time for
twelve typical average days over the year. The figures show that the wind speed is 0.3-11.4 m/s
with an average of 4.2 m/s, while the maximum incident radiation during the day is 400-1010
Wh/m2. The top wind speed is on September 15, and the maximum peak incident radiation is on
April 15. Moreover, the incident radiation was low due to the cloudy weather on February 16 and
December 10. Thus, the passive cooling was expected to be more effective on September 15 due
to the high wind speed (6 – 11.4 m/s) during the day.

Figure 4. Wind speed for typical recommended average days: (a) from January to June and
(b) from July to December.

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Figure 5. Incident radiation for typical recommended average days (a) from January to June and
(b) from July to December.

3. ENERGY ANALYSIS
An energy balance between the amount of heat emitted, reflected, and absorbed by the panel and
its electrical power output has been performed. The following assumptions are considered: (a)
one-dimension heat transfer, (b) convection cooling from the top and bottom surfaces, (c) steady
state, and (d) radiation to the surroundings from the top surface only.

where α is the absorptivity of the panel, G is the total hourly incident radiation, P is electrical
power output, ɛ is the panel emissivity, σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, T P is the panel's
temperature, Tsur is the surrounding temperature, and hf and hb are the heat transfer coefficients of
the front and back side of the PV solar panel.

The energy efficiency of the PV solar panel (ηp) as a function of the panel temperature (T P) for
polycrystalline PV is given by [14]:

where ηref module’s electrical efficiency at reference temperature = 0.125, βref is the temperature
coefficient = 0.0044 [C-1] , and γsolar is the solar radiation coefficient = 0.12.

The hourly irradiance in the tilted surface was calculated by [15] as a total of in-plane direct
irradiance (IC), in-plane diffuse irradiance (DC), and the irradiance due to ground reflection (DG).

𝐺=𝐼𝐶+𝐷𝐶+𝐷G (3)

IC, DC, and DG are calculated using the following equations:

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 International Journal of Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH), Vol.12, No.2/3, August 2023

where DNI is the direct normal irradiation, 𝜃 is the incident angle, DIF is the diffuse irradiation,
𝛽 is the tilt angle, GHI is the total solar radiation on a horizontal surface, and ρ is the panel
reflectivity.

Substituting Eqns. 4-6 into Eqn. 3 yields,

A model to estimate the PV solar array power output (P) as a function of the panel temperature
(TP) given by [14]:

𝑃=𝜂P∙𝐴P∙𝐺 (8)

where AP is the area of the panel.

The combined natural convection and forced convection heat transfer are assumed for the front
side of the PV solar panel. While natural convection heat transfer is assumed for the back side of
the panel. Churchill's equation, [16], is used to evaluate the average heat transfer coefficient:

ℎf=(ℎf,natural3+ℎf,forced3)(1/3) (9)

where hf is the heat transfer coefficient for the front side of the panel, hf,natural is the natural heat
transfer coefficient for the front side of the panel, and hf,forced is the forced heat transfer coefficient
for the front side of the panel.

Nusselt number (Nu) for an inclined plate with a heated surface facing upward with approximately
constant heat flux depends on Grashof number (Gr), Prandtl number (Pr) at Tair, and optimum tilt
angle (β), given by Fujii and Imura correlation, [17]:

where g is gravity acceleration, Bt is the coefficient of the thermal expansion, and ν is the
kinematic viscosity of the air at Tair.

where Nuf,natural is the natural Nusselt number for the front side of the panel, kf is the thermal

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 International Journal of Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH), Vol.12, No.2/3, August 2023

conductivity of the air, and LP is the length of the panel.

Nuf,forced is the Nusselt number for the front side of the panel when a flat plate is subjected to
uniform heat flux. The average Nusselt number is given by, [18]:

The natural convection Nusselt number for the back side of the panel is Nu b. There is free
convection from the bottom of a heated inclined plate for the entire range of Rayleigh numbers
calculated using the Churchill and Chu correlation, [19]:

where Ra is Rayleigh number, and it is a product of Grashof number (Gr) and Prandtl number
(Pr) at Tair, as follows:

𝑅𝑎 = 𝐺𝑟 ∙ 𝑃𝑟 (19)

The heat transfer coefficient of the backside (hb) is then calculated as

After adding fins, the energy balance of the PV solar panel becomes,

where Ac represents the fin cross-sectional area, hfins is the heat transfer coefficient for areas
between each fin, Afin represents the fin area, and ηfin represents the fin efficiency.
Natural convection is considered for areas between each fin, which is assumed as inclined
channels in an isoflux case, and it is calculated by Azevedo and Sparrow correlation, [19]:

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where g is gravity acceleration, Bt is the coefficient of the thermal expansion, and νs. is the
kinematic viscosity of the air at Tfilm.

4. CONCEPTUAL GEOMETRY AND DESCRIPTION

Five types of fins were investigated during an optimization design process in quest of a fin
configuration that maximizes the power output and minimizes the additional weight. Figs. 6 and 7
show examples of two types of fins on the back of the PV solar panel: the rectangular profile and
the triangular profile. The PV solar panel is tilted with an angle of 30 degrees from the horizontal
line. In comparison, a zoomed area was taken in all figures due to the tiny size of the fins.

Figure 6. PV solar panel with rectangular profile pin-fins.

Figure 7. PV solar panel with triangular profile pin-fins.

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Several types of fins were considered in an optimization design process, searching for a fin
configuration that maximizes the power output and minimizes the additional weight with a
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maximum height and optimum space consideration between fins. In addition, an in-line
arrangement of the selected rectangle and triangular pin fin profiles was considered for the yearly
simulations. In this study, both pin fin types have the same diameter of 2 mm, height of 10 mm,
and spacing of 2 mm.

Figures 8-13 illustrate air temperature, panel temperature, and output power in the case with and
without fins. Also, panel temperature and output power in the case with triangular pin fins versus
time are all for six selected typical days over the year. It is noticeable from the figures that all
temperatures of air and panel are approximately the same at nighttime. Also, the panel
temperature with rectangular pin fins is less than that with triangular pin fins, which leads to more
power output. In addition, there is more improvement in output power on summer days compared
to winter days.

Moreover, the peak panel temperature is 78°C on August 16 at 12:30 PM for a PV solar panel
without fins. It reached 59°C and 52°C by adding triangular and rectangular pin fins, respectively.
The air temperature is the lowest compared to the panel temperature on all recommended typical
days.

Additionally, the figures illustrate that the panel temperature is very close to the air temperature
when the best fins are used. Furthermore, a minor improvement was found in the output power
when using fins compared to the case without fins. This improvement is significantly increased
during the summer days.

Figure 8. (a) Air and panel temperature and (b) Hourly PV power output for February 16.

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Figure 9. (a) Air and panel temperature and (b) Hourly PV power output for April 15.

Figure 10. (a) Air temperature and panel temperature, and (b) Hourly PV power output for June 11.

Figure 11. (a) Air temperature and panel temperature, and (b) Hourly PV power output for August 16.

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Figure 12. (a) Air temperature and panel temperature, and (b) Hourly PV power output for October 15.

Figure 13. (a) Air temperature and panel temperature, and (b) Hourly PV power output for December 10.

A PV solar panel without fins shows a yearly average temperature of 35ºC. The simulations of
pin fins of rectangular profiles resulted in an average annual panel temperature of 28ºC compared
to 30ºC for the triangular profile pin fins.

Table 1 compares the performance of a panel with and without fins. The results of a PV solar
panel without fins show total annual power output of 340 kWh/m2. Using rectangular and
triangular profile pin fins yields a power output of 365 kWh/m2 and 358 kWh/m2, an
improvement of 7.3% and 5.2%, respectively. However, the triangular profile pin fins result in
much less additional material of 1.8 kg/m2 compared to 5.3 kg/m2 for the rectangular profile pin
fins. Thus, they have the minimum weight load and cost of materials. It is worth noting that the
same height, diameter, and spacing constrain the results of both pin fin designs.

Figure 14 illustrates power output in the cases with and without fins versus days of the year. The
power output for a PV solar panel with rectangular pin fins is more than for a triangular pin fin.
Low power production points are caused by the lack of direct solar radiation on cloudy days. In

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addition, Figure 15 shows the total monthly power output in the cases without fins, rectangular
pin fins, and triangular pin fins. The results show that the total monthly power output for a PV
solar panel with rectangular pin fins is higher than for a triangular pin fin. The results also show
that the improvement by using fins in the PV power output during summer is greater than in
winter.
Table 1. Performance comparisons of a PV solar panel with and without fins

Withoutfins Pin fins of Pin fins of triangular profile

rectangular profile
Weight (kg/m2) 0 5.3 1.8
ηfin ------ 0.993 0.998

ηoverall 0.15 0.161 0.158

TP (°C) 35 28 30
PT (kWh/m2) 340 365 358

Power Improvement (%) ------- 7.30 5.20

Figure 14. The total daily power output of the PV solar panel in the cases with and without fins vs. days of
the year.

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Figure 15. The total monthly power output of the PV solar panel in the cases with and without fins.

6. CONCLUSIONS
During normal operation, a PV solar panel's temperature increases significantly in an extremely
hot environment, reducing energy efficiency and electrical power output. The present study built
numerical models to predict the PV solar panels' temperature, energy efficiency, and power
output during typical operation. A one-dimensional thermal model was presented for analyzing
the thermal performance of the PV solar panel accounting for heat transfer by convection,
conduction, and radiation. Hourly simulation of a PV solar panel with and without fins, using
extremely hot environment weather data, is used to predict a PV solar panel's operation
temperature and performance. The energy efficiency and power output of a PV solar panel with
and without fins were determined, and the results were compared. The solar panel's maximum
temperature was about 84°C, and the average temperature was about 35ºC without fins. The
maximum panel temperature was 55ºC, and around 28°C for the average value when using the
pin fins of a rectangular profile as a passive cooling method. In comparison, the maximum panel
temperature was 62ºC and around 30°C for the average value when using the pin fins of the
triangular profile.

In summary, implementing passive air cooling using fins improves the power output of PV panels
by 5% to 7%. Using a one-dimensional model for conducting hourly simulations over the year
has proven highly efficient. It is advisable to conduct a cost analysis to add fins to PV panels and
validate all results through future experimental studies. These efforts demonstrate improvements
in the overall thermal efficiency of the PV panels.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We gratefully acknowledge the support of Kuwait University.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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 International Journal of Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH), Vol.12, No.2/3, August 2023

CONTRIBUTIONS

Conceptualization and methodology by O.M. Ibrahim, N. Aljuwayhel, and M. Zuhour. Analysis

and writing-original draft by M. Zuhour. Validation, writing-review, and editing by O.M. Ibrahim
and N. Aljuwayhel.

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