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20-06-2022, 16:38
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2022
Posts: 195
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Water cooled solar panels.
Boats are surrounded by water.
Why not pump up some water to cool the back of your solar panels?
Would the power to the pump use up all the efficiency gain?
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20-06-2022, 16:46
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 571
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Oh my god, why didn't I think of that??
What an awesome idea, and salt water would be best right, so the salt crystals magnify the suns rays....super efficient, super coooool!!
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20-06-2022, 17:16
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2022
Posts: 195
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Allied39
Oh my god, why didn't I think of that??
What an awesome idea, and salt water would be best right, so the salt crystals magnify the suns rays....super efficient, super coooool!!
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Must have missed "back of the panel".
When reading, comprehension is the key to understanding.
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20-06-2022, 17:24
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Sydney Australia
Boat: Fisher pilothouse sloop 32'
Posts: 3,413
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Idaho
Must have missed "back of the panel".
When reading, comprehension is the key to understanding.
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Probably the quickest way to destroy the panel and just great for the rest of that part of the boat where the water would constantly cascade on its return to source.
__________________
Rob aka Uncle Bob Sydney Australia.
Life is 10% the cards you are dealt, 90% how you play em
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20-06-2022, 17:28
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 571
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Idaho
Must have missed "back of the panel".
When reading, comprehension is the key to understanding.
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The key to understanding.....having built solar panels I know what the back of them looks like ,and they will not be happy wet, so perhaps the key to understanding is a thought process.
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20-06-2022, 17:44
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#6
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Port Moresby,Papua New Guinea
Boat: FP Belize Maestro 43 and OPBs
Posts: 12,888
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Apparently from comments, no one has thought of passing the water through cooling coils on the underside of the panels.
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20-06-2022, 18:04
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 571
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuM
Apparently from comments, no one has thought of passing the water through cooling coils on the underside of the panels.
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Well to be honest I thought the OP was a joke.
Stop for a moment and think about it, pumping salt water up between 5 and 15 ft to to remove heat from the back of solar panels....by conduction?....through coils or direct contact? or through an air gap? (to reduce corrosion)to improve efficiency by what unknown percentage?
Yes, definitely a joke.
Either that or daydreaming on a couch a long way from a boat....and salt water....and solar panels.....and reality.
I will leave you to it.
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20-06-2022, 18:54
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#8
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 4,663
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
We pump salt water through metal tubes all the time -- engine heat-exchangers for example. You could glue the metal tubing to the back of the panels and get significant thermal transfer. This would work to cool the panel and increase the power output.
The question isn't the reliability, it's "will the power gained exceed the power needed to run the pump?" Which is what the OP was wondering. It's a good question. I don't know the answer, but I assume it depends on many factors, including water and air temperature, amount of sunshine, pump efficiency, etc.
__________________
Paul Elliott, S/V VALIS - Pacific Seacraft 44 #16 - Friday Harbor, WA
www.sailvalis.com
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20-06-2022, 19:01
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 571
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Elliott
We pump salt water through metal tubes all the time -- engine heat-exchangers for example. You could glue the metal tubing to the back of the panels and get significant thermal transfer. This would work to cool the panel and increase the power output.
The question isn't the reliability, it's "will the power gained exceed the power needed to run the pump?" Which is what the OP was wondering. It's a good question. I don't know the answer, but I assume it depends on many factors, including water and air temperature, amount of sunshine, pump efficiency, etc.
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Yes yes, absolutely...
Sorry my bad. Continue, please. Much to ponder.
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20-06-2022, 19:30
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Sydney Australia
Boat: Fisher pilothouse sloop 32'
Posts: 3,413
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Allied39
Yes yes, absolutely...
Sorry my bad. Continue, please. Much to ponder.
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I too have to plead guilty to assuming that it was a joke, however to achieve a realistic heat transfer I guess one would need something like a refrigeration evaporator plate (obviously not aluminium) bonded to the back of the panel with water pumped through it. This poses the question, should the cooling water be connected between panels in series, thus providing less cooling to the last in the string, or would parallel be required.
Then the operating power consumption, would the load outweigh the benefit?
__________________
Rob aka Uncle Bob Sydney Australia.
Life is 10% the cards you are dealt, 90% how you play em
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20-06-2022, 19:32
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: SF Bay Area (Boat Sold)
Boat: Former owner of a Valiant V40
Posts: 1,141
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Most basic issue: Does the improvement in solar efficiency (and thus solar power output) outweigh the cost of pumping the coolant? Not even including issues of component lifetime, biofouling, etc etc.
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20-06-2022, 20:17
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#13
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Port Moresby,Papua New Guinea
Boat: FP Belize Maestro 43 and OPBs
Posts: 12,888
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeywoodJ
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Interesting reading. From the second link:
"Colţ (2016) conducted an experiment to cool the photovoltaic by circulating water at its rear surface. In his setup, he used an aluminum radiator as a heat exchanger to extract the heat from the photovoltaic, as shown in Fig. 10. The results indicated that the photovoltaic surface temperature decreased by 32%, and the electrical efficiency increased by 57%." [empaasis added]
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20-06-2022, 20:31
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2022
Posts: 195
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Thank you.
I was thinking of bonding a copper or aluminum board, maybe similar in shape to corrugated plastic board, so that the small channels of flowing water would cool the cells. Sort of like a radiator, but a surface cooling effect instead of airflow.
I did not think if bio-fouling, which would be an issue.
Typically, my ideas are either already available, or three years ahead of current availability.
Look for this efficiency improvement in about 3 years.
Oh, by the way. Salt water? What about the Great Lakes? Fresh and cold water. See it there first.
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20-06-2022, 20:37
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 760
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Re: Water cooled solar panels.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuM
Interesting reading. From the second link:
"Colţ (2016) conducted an experiment to cool the photovoltaic by circulating water at its rear surface. In his setup, he used an aluminum radiator as a heat exchanger to extract the heat from the photovoltaic, as shown in Fig. 10. The results indicated that the photovoltaic surface temperature decreased by 32%, and the electrical efficiency increased by 57%." [empaasis added]
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Interesting, Maybe, but still total BS. What EXACTLY does it MEAN that "electrical efficiency increased by 57%"???? Can you explain that? Can you calculate it? Can you tell me how much extra power was generated?
Do you realize that energy output did NOT increase by 57%?? Because IF that was true, that's what they would have said. Actually I KNOW that wasn't true... because the temperature coefficient of a solar panels is around -0.3%/ēC. To increase power output from a standard solar panel by 57% you would have to cool it from almost 200ēC to 25ēC. I think not... unless you are keeping your solar panel in your oven...
This is a CLASSIC case of misleading by being murky in terminology. Making something sound like an amazing discovery, when it is a really a total nothing burger. Because if you don't you'll never get that next research grant.
Take note of this, everybody who complains about the people on here who can be a bit pedantic about using units correctly. This is why.
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