Solar module cooling tech based on perforated fins - pv magazine Global

Solar module cooling tech based on perforated fins demonstrates a novel approach to thermal management for photovoltaic cells. Researchers from the University of Batna, Algeria, evaluated heat sinks with plain rectangular, plain hexagonal, and perforated hexagonal fin geometries using CFD. Experiments modeled a 165×65 mm polycrystalline silicon cell at 6 V, 250 mA, with 18 aluminum fins per heat sink. Four designs were compared: plain rectangular fins (PRF), plain hexagonal fins (PHF), hexagonal fins with rhombus perforations (HFRP), and hexagonal fins with hexagonal perforations (HFHP). Simulations ran at ambient 25 °C with varying air speeds and irradiances up to 2,500 W/m², representing up to 2.5 suns of concentration.

Results showed the HFHP configuration delivered the greatest thermal improvement, reducing cell temperature by 20.93% at the highest irradiance relative to PRF and returning a 0.48% gain in electrical efficiency. At 1 m/s air flow, HFHP achieved the highest Nusselt number, outperforming PRF by about 62.5%, while HFRP and PHF followed. Researchers noted that the additional fan power required for forced convection remained negligible compared with the PV output, preserving over 97% of generated power for useful work. They conclude that shaping perforations in fins enhances heat transfer and plan to validate designs experimentally and through CNC fabrication. The study was presented in a PV-related design and optimization paper, underscoring a path toward more efficient solar cooling strategies.