Numerical Analysis of Photovoltaic Solar Panels Integrated with Various Pin-Fin Structures

Energy production from sustainable renewable sources is one of the demanding aspects of modern times. The sun's irradiation plays a great role in this aspect. Photovoltaic cells (PVCs) can convert solar energy into electricity with around 20% efficiency. The rest of the solar energy dissipates as heat, overheating, and reducing performance. This study introduces a PV solar panel model that incorporates wavy, square, and circular-shaped pin-finned structures. The steady-state thermal analyses reveal that the surface and body temperature of solar panel is reduced when fins are incorporated into its structure. Compared to the base solar panel model, square and circular pin-fins reduce the PVC temperature by about 23.1% and 22.88% respectively, while wavy pin-fins achieve a reduction of 28.46% where the lowest PVC temperature is 40.513C in wavy pin-fin. These findings indicate that the wavy-shaped fin design improves PVC performance by reducing operating temperatures. Thus, it can absorb more photons, which results in more electricity generation.