Fin orientation effect on passive cooling of photovoltaic panels: an experimental study under extreme hot climate

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are a fast-growing solar technology worldwide. However, the PV efficiency is still limited, especially in hot locations due to increased operating temperature. In this research, a PV panel cooled using L-shaped aluminium fins attached passively in various orientations was tested and analyzed compared with another conventional PV under hot Iraqi weather conditions. The average surface temperature reduction, power output augmentation, and electrical efficiency improvement were analyzed and discussed. The research outcomes exhibited positive thermal advancements for the modified PV regardless of fin orientation, with superior performance for the random arrangement. The PV maximum average surface temperature was reduced by 6.5 °C for the random fin arrangement, utilizing the vortices generated from various fin directions. The power output of the modified PV panel was improved over the conventional one by up to 6.54, 10, and 17 W for the vertical, horizontal, and random arrangements, respectively. Besides, the electrical efficiency of the PV with random fin orientation was augmented by 8.6 %, 13.7 % and 23.1 % compared to the vertical, horizontal, and base PVs.