SIMULATION, FABRICATION, AND EXPERIMENT OF THERMOSIPHON COOLED FLOATING SOLAR PANEL WITH THE RESERVOIR PARALLEL TO THE TOP OF THE PANEL

• Main Author: Zisochi Mendrofa, Faibe
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik (Rekayasa, enjinering dan kegiatan berkaitan)
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/79580
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

High working temperatures can reduce the efficiency of solar panel. One of the cooling systems that is being developed to reduce the temperature and increase the efficiency of solar panel is thermosiphon for floating solar panel. The presence of the thermosiphon has been proven to be better than floating solar panel without cooling system and ground solar panel in reducing the temperature and increasing the efficiency. However, the location of the high reservoir altitude in that system could potentially cause shading. Therefore, this study tried to use thermosiphon cooling system for floating solar panel with the reservoir parallel to the top of the panel to prevent the potential of shading. There are three stages in this research, i.e., the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation process, the device’s design and making process, and the experiment process. The geometry of thermosiphon and solar panel in two dimensions were made for the simulation process. Using finite volume method for the discretization, laminar flow model, and transient simulation with the help of software, the chart of temperature versus time, flow vector, and contours of temperature, velocity, and density were obtained. The floating solar panel design process was carried out using 3D modelling software with the consideration of total system stability and buoyancy load while adjusting to the tools and materials in the making process. The experiment process conducted on three different configurations namely thermosiphon cooled floating solar panel, non-cooled (conventional) floating solar panel, and ground solar panel by taking the irradiation, the temperature, and the power data of the solar panel in real condition. Procurement of data acquisition instrument, installation of electrical components, and solar module characteristics testing were conducted before doing the experiment process. The CFD simulation’s results show that there was a flow cycle in the thermosiphon cooling system and heat absorption process occurred so that it able to cool the solar panel. Engineering drawing details of the floating with and without thermosiphon cooling system design were obtained. The making process of both structure yield to the stable, floatable, and strong structure in holding the total weight. From processing the experiment data, it was found that the temperature at the top of the panel for thermosiphon floating solar panel, conventional floating solar panel, and ground solar panel was 46,70?, 48,30?, and 54,61? respectively, while at the bottom of the panel was 45,20?, 48,40?, and 56,15? in a irradiation of 780 W/m2. There was an increase in efficiency by 5,07% from the ground solar panel for the thermosiphon floating solar panels, which is higher than for conventional floating solar panel by 2,87% from the ground solar panel. Shows that thermosiphon floating solar panel was the most efficient in generating electricity, followed by conventional floating solar panel, then ground solar panel.