Solar Panel Cooling Plate with Vertical Convection Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional solar panels experience reduced power generation efficiency due to high temperatures, and existing cooling methods consume power, hindering efficient energy production, especially in sunny and equatorial regions.
Innovation Solution
A non-power cooling type solar panel design featuring a cooling panel with vertically elongated air channels and refrigerant chambers that utilize a fluid with a lower boiling point for heat transfer, allowing for natural cooling without power consumption, enhancing heat dissipation and power generation efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional cooling devices are used to cool the solar panel, then the temperature of the solar panel is reduced, but power is consumed which hinders power generation efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling panel utilizes natural convection currents where air heated by the solar panel rises through vertically elongated channels, creating a self-sustaining cooling cycle without external power input. The system serves itself by converting the heat problem into a driving force for air circulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical cooling systems (fans, pumps, compressors) with a passive thermal convection system. The mechanically complex active cooling apparatus is substituted with simple vertical channels that exploit natural buoyancy forces driven by temperature differences.
2Temperature
If conventional cooling devices are used to cool the solar panel, then the temperature of the solar panel is reduced, but power generation efficiency is hindered due to energy consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling panel utilizes natural convection currents where air heated by the solar panel rises through vertically elongated channels, creating a self-sustaining cooling cycle without external power input. The system serves itself by converting the heat problem into a driving force for air circulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical cooling systems (fans, pumps, compressors) with a passive thermal convection system. The mechanically complex active cooling apparatus is substituted with simple vertical channels that exploit natural buoyancy forces driven by temperature differences.
3Loss of energy
If refrigerant is used for heat transfer in the cooling panel, then heat dissipation is enhanced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs refrigerant phase change (evaporation and condensation) within the cooling panel channels to efficiently transfer heat. The refrigerant evaporates at low temperature absorbing heat from the solar panel, then condenses releasing heat to the ambient air, providing high heat transfer efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling panel is divided into multiple vertical channels that are segmented and distributed across the panel surface. This segmentation allows the refrigerant to flow through multiple parallel paths, enhancing overall heat dissipation while maintaining simple individual channel structures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables continuous air flow and refrigerant phase change to rapidly dissipate heat, maintaining the solar panel at a low temperature without power consumption, thereby improving power generation efficiency and promoting uniform cooling.
Implementation Method 1
capable of achieving natural cooling through rising of air heated in channels within a cooling panel
Implementation Method 2
heat of a high temperature region in the cooling panel is transferred to a low temperature region in the cooling panel in accordance with circulation and phase change of the refrigerant
Implementation Method 3
a first tube for movement of evaporated refrigerant
Implementation Method 4
a second tube for movement of condensed refrigerant
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a solar panel that is cooled without using power, and more particularly, to a solar panel which is cooled without using power and which is naturally cooled by means of ascending air heated in a passage provided in a cooling plate so as to maintain the temperature of the solar panel suitable for the efficient generation of power without requiring a separate power source. For this purpose, the solar panel of the present invention includes: a cell panel including solar cells for converting solar energy into electric energy; and a cooling plate directly or indirectly contacting the back surface of the cell panel so as to transfer heat, the cooling plate having a cooling-air passage which is formed so as to extend vertically within the cooling plate, and the upper and lower ends of which are in contact with the outside air.