Improving the Effectiveness of a Photovoltaic Water Pump System by Applying Water Flow Over Photovoltaic Cells

The photovoltaic cells will exhibit long-term degradation if the temperature exceeds a certain limit. Photovoltaic cells are at the heart of photovoltaic water pump systems. In order to utilize PV power and increase photovoltaic water pump system efficiency, it is necessary to keep PV cell temperature low. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of improving the performance of a Photovoltaic water pump system by applying water flow over the photovoltaic cells, which is investigated and compared with traditional systems. In order to examine the effect of spraying water flow over photovoltaic cell, we have installed a photovoltaic water pump system and investigated the effectiveness of cooling photovoltaic cells on the photovoltaic water pump system performance. To cool photovoltaic cells, different designs were considered and among all of them the most economical and effective one has been chosen and mounted on the photovoltaic cells. The water supplied for spraying over the photovoltaic cells is fed by the pump. Experimental results show that the cells power increased due to spreading water flow over the photovoltaic cells can increase significantly system and subsystem efficiency and the pump flow rate in different heads.