Efficiency improvement of photovoltaic cells by cooling using Peltier effect

Abstract

Like all semiconductors, photovoltaic cells are sensitive to temperature. Under real operating conditions the temperature of cells increases with environment, shades or local defects (hot spots) and electrical effects. This increase in temperature causes a decrease in the electrical parameters of solar cells, which makes the electrical power and efficiency of cell are reduced, and also affect the average life of device. Photovoltaic cells have yields between 15% and 25% but efficiency decreases with increasing temperature up to 0.3% per degree centigrade. In practical terms the thermal part of solar radiation can increase the temperature inside the cell by about 30°C, and in turn decrease the yield to unsustainable values. The objective of this research is the application of the Peltier effect to reduce the impact of temperature on the efficiency of photovoltaic cells under operating conditions. For this reason, in this work an alternative was developed to find the suitable temperature for the photovoltaic cell to reach and maintain its highest efficiency. For this, a temperature control based on thermoelectric cells or Peltier effect is used. With the results optimal operating temperatures of the photovoltaic cell are proposed that do not impact the power of the cell.