Performance of a PV module integrated with standalone building in hot arid areas as enhanced by surface cooling and cleaning

This study investigated experimentally the performance due to automatic cooling and surface cleaning of Photovoltaic (PV) module installed on the roof of a building in hot arid area as compared with that of a module without cooling and cleaning. The module cooling is controlled automatically according to the rear side temperature via rejection of none-converted solar-energy to the ambient to keep the PV module surface temperature always close to the ambient temperature. In addition, this system controls the cleaning period of the module front surface. The results showed a decrease of about 45.5% and 39% in module temperature at front and rear faces, respectively. Consequently, the cooled and surface cleaned module has an efficiency of 11.7% against 9% for the module without cooling and cleaning. Moreover, the maximum output power produced by cooled and cleaned module is 89.4W against 68.4W for non-cooled and non-cleaned module. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.