Design and Optimization of a Combined Cooling and Heat Recovery System for Photovoltaic Panels
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Date
2025
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
National Higher School of Technology and Engineering-Annaba
Abstract
The main goal of this study is, on the one hand, to develop an effective cooling system to enhance PV efficiency, and, on the other hand, to use the extracted heat in a brine preheating process, with the aim of improving the efficiency of the brine electrolysis, which has been investigated in a separate study. A set of indoor and outdoor experiments evaluated active and passive cooling techniques including a gravity-fed coil system, natural convection, Water-Filled Heat Sink, and moist sand-based evaporative cooling. Results demonstrated that effective thermal management significantly enhances PV efficiency. The moist sand configuration achieved over 20 °C temperature reduction and an efficiency gain of up to 2%, proving the potential of low-cost, energy free cooling solutions combined with heat recovery.