Prospective Use of Thermoelectric Device for PV Panel Cooling

The electrical efficiency of a photovoltaic panel is influenced by the rise in the panel's temperature, especially at temperatures from and above 25 °C. For cooling a photovoltaic panel, a thermoelectric module operated as a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) attached at the back of a photovoltaic panel is a practical solution. The TEC module is used to absorb the heat generated on the surface of the photovoltaic panel, which is then dispersed by a heat-sink mounted on the opposite side of a TEC. This paper deals with the development of a mathematical model to optimally control a TEC and take into account the amount of energy used to cool down a photovoltaic panel.