ENHANCING PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFICIENCY USING SERPENTINE LIQUID COOLING UNDER VARYING FLOW RATES IN TROPICAL CLIMATES
Abstract
Global growth in electricity demand and the environmental impact of fossil fuels have accelerated the adoption of photovoltaic (PV) technology. However, PV efficiency significantly degrades under high outdoor thermal loads, where every 1°C rise in temperature reduces efficiency by approximately 0.3-0.5%. This study evaluates an active thermal management system (TMS) based on a serpentine liquid channel integrated with a dual-axis solar tracker on a 100 Wp monocrystalline PV module. Outdoor experimental research was conducted at Universitas Gadjah Mada in April 2026. Water flow rates of 1.5 LPM and 2.5 LPM were analyzed to determine their impact on performance. To ensure a fair comparative evaluation under dynamic weather conditions, cooling performance was evaluated against an analytical non-cooled baseline calculated using standard STC coefficients driven by real-time environmental data. The results demonstrate that the TMS significantly lowered cell temperatures. At 1.5 LPM, the average temperature reduction was 12.43°C, while 2.5 LPM achieved a better reduction of 14.58°C. The heat transfer coefficient increased by 43.1%, rising from 322.77 W/m²K at 1.5 LPM to 461.89 W/m²K at 2.5 LPM. Consequently, average gross electrical efficiency improved from a non-cooled of 14.69% to 15.63% at 2.5 LPM, representing a 6.4% relative increase. While the 2.5 LPM flow rate achieved the better gross electrical efficiency, the 1.5 LPM configuration yielded slightly better net efficiency after accounting for the pump load. These findings confirm that increasing water flow rates within serpentine channels effectively maintains the PV temperature and improves its gross efficiency.
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