Experimental Investigation of Cooling Solar Panel by Using Heat pipe approach

Abstract

            Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels suffer a significant drop in electrical efficiency as their operating temperature rises under solar irradiance. This study investigates the use of a heat pipe cooling system, filled with ethanol, mounted on the back of a PV panel to mitigate temperature rise and improve performance. Two experimental conditions were examined: a reference panel without cooling, and a modified panel with ethanol-based heat pipe cooling. Results showed a temperature reduction of up to 18°C, leading to an improvement in panel efficiency by approximately 12.5%. This work demonstrates that passive cooling using ethanol-filled heat pipes can effectively enhance the thermal management of PV systems, offering a simple and scalable solution for improving solar panel performance in high-temperature environments.