Air-cooling technique using thermoregulated crossflow fan for retrofitted rooftop photovoltaic system

Photovoltaic (PV) technology is a fast-growing source of renewable energy, notably on residential rooftops. Raising the temperature of the PV module results in a reduction in power generation, which is dependent on the module's temperature coefficient. One of the biggest problems with rooftop PV systems was the air trapped between the PV array and the roof, which made the PV module work at higher temperatures. To maximize the efficiency of a rooftop PV system, it is critical to reduce the temperature of the PV module, Tcell. Implementing a cooling system can effectively control the Tcell's rise. This research developed air-cooling system using thermoregulated cross- flow fan to supply a uniform and wide airflow system, which is well-suited for effectively cooling wide-width regions. The thermoregulated air-cooling for retrofitted PV system conserves energy by working within a temperature range. The air-cooling system's design considered the space between the PV system and the rooftop, the area surrounding, ease of installation, and lighter weight without modifying the existing PV system. The experiment was run continuously for 12 hours, starting at 7:00 a.m. and ending at 7:00 p.m at existing PV system in the German Malaysian Institute in Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia. Irradiance, Tcell, and electrical characteristics were recorded at 3s intervals, providing a daily total of at least twelve thousand results for further investigation. A black-box technique in the System Identification toolbox, Matlab were used to create thermoregulated air-cooling for retrofitted PV system model to accurately predict PV module and air-cooling PV system performance, and ensuring that the proposed system can handle varying solar irradiance without hot weather experiments or field risks. The Ziegler-Nichols method was employed to set the PID controller's starting parameters and simulated under various solar irradiance levels using Simulink, Matlab. The validation findings indicate that the mean output voltage increases by 11.77%, 21.51%, and 18.86% for high, moderate, and low levels of irradiance, respectively. A notable rise in the average output voltage has proven the effectiveness of an air-cooling system. Specifically, the system with PID shows a 3.95%, 3.45%, and 3.35% gain in voltage compared to the system without PID.

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