MANIFOLD MICROCHANNEL COOLING OF PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS: FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS

Several works have been published on concentration of solar radiation by mirrors or lenses onto smaller size solar panels, which reduce cost and increase conversion efficiency at higher concentration ratio. One of the challenges is active and uniform cooling of high heat flux solar arrays, because conversion efficiency is dependent on device temperatures and drops with increasing temperature. This research is targeted at cooling of small, high concentrated solar cells. Benefits of manifold microchannel are attractive for cooling of electronic devices but have not been studied for cooling of high concentrated solar cells which is the objective of this research, where the microchannel can be microfabricated and etched on the backside of the silicon solar cell to form a sealed heat sink with the manifold fabricated in the silicon substrate. This design not only minimizes the pressure drop, but also maximizes the heat transfer and provides uniform temperature across the device.