sorry for bad english.
I have a question.
I want to cooling down a solar panel temperature to increase the efficiency.
I use a peltier element and PID control using arduino.
The problem is i don't know how to drive the peltier element. Should i use a L298N or something else for the peltier driver?
Thank you.

 

Wouldn't a Peltier device (it would probably need a fan too) of sufficient size to cool the solar panel consume more energy than the cooled panel would gain? Do any solar panel manufacturers incorporate Peltier cooling into their panels? Have you considered water cooling instead; at least you would get hot water as a by-product?

I don't see why you would need anything other than a transistor or mosfet to switch power to the Peltier device. The L298N is a H-bridge driver for controlling motors that need to change direction, you don't need to switch polarity unless you want to heat the panel as well.

 

Wouldn't a Peltier device (it would probably need a fan too) of sufficient size to cool the solar panel consume more energy than the cooled panel would gain?

By a wide margin, yes it would. This would only make sense for testing purposes, to control the panel temperature while collecting an I-V curve for instance. But other approaches at temperature control would probably be easier to implement.

I don't see why you would need anything other than a transistor or mosfet to switch power to the Peltier device.[/QUOTE] Agreed. Very tight temperature control (±0.1°C) is possible with nothing more than a thermostat. I used an LM35 and a comparator driving a MOSFET. That alone can get you ±0.5-1°C. Adding an op-amp to amplify the LM35 signal gave me the tighter control but that comes at the expense of temperature measuring range.

 

I would use a pwm driver for the peltier, and sense the temperature with a Lm35, and use it to alter the pwm, go for a 555pwm pcb ready made, and alter the pwm on pin5 of the 555 chip, with an op amp...

 

I want to cooling down a solar panel temperature to increase the efficiency. I use a peltier element and PID control using arduino.

Forget it; the power consumed by the Peltier cooler will far exceed any increase in solar panel output, by a factor of hundreds or even thousands.

 

Forget it; the power consumed by the Peltier cooler will far exceed any increase in solar panel output, by a factor of hundreds or even thousands.

Exactly what I was going to mention. This thread should have been ended in one post. After all over unity discussion is prohibited.

 

Exactly what I was going to mention. This thread should have been ended in one post. After all over unity discussion is prohibited.

Heh. That didn't occur to me. If more power was gained from the solar array than consumed by the Peltier cooler, the excess could be fed back into the Peltier for even more cooling; and before you know it, we'd all be at Absolute Zero and life wouldn't be any fun anymore.

 

Can you run some cold water behind it?

 

Exactly what I was going to mention. This thread should have been ended in one post. After all over unity discussion is prohibited.

Although he mentioned efficiency, there was not (yet) any hint that the TS intended to run this as an attempt at over-unity.

 

Although he mentioned efficiency, there was not (yet) any hint that the TS intended to run this as an attempt at over-unity.

Trying to get increased efficiency by consuming power from the device generating the power could be considered over unity. I.E. increased efficiency using that method ain't gonna happen.

The only possibility of increasing efficiency with cooling is by using some other outside source Example a nearby stream or waterfall and making use of water cooling.

 

Suppose he's studying the effect of temperature on panel efficiency. I don't think a Peltier is a good choice but it's certainly a valid discussion.

Maybe you're right and wants something from nothing. He's been told repeatedly that it's not going to even come close. We'll see if he ever comes back.

 

Suppose he's studying the effect of temperature on panel efficiency. I don't think a Peltier is a good choice but it's certainly a valid discussion.

Maybe you're right and wants something from nothing. He's been told repeatedly that it's not going to even come close. We'll see if he ever comes back.

I want to cooling down a solar panel temperature to increase the efficiency.

I guess it still could be to study but there would be way easier ways to do it.

 

I want to cooling down a solar panel temperature to increase the efficiency.

Well for the reasons mentioned the Peltier Effect won't work. What other methods of cooling would be practical? The tap water entering my home comes from city pipes running about 15' (4.6 meters) below the road surface and enter the house at about 50 degrees F year round. The house entry is about 6' (about 2 meters) below ground surface. If I were to bury a retort piping network about 6' deep of simple PVC pipe making it a closed loop maybe add fins to the buried pipe I wonder how much heat I could remove from a heat transfer fluid like antifreeze? The pump would only need be circulatory so low energy there. The entire objective is to remove heat from the solar panel but not use more energy than we produce doing it.
Outside air temperature today reached mid 90s (Degrees F.) and the house air conditioning has been maintaining about 70 degrees F in the house. Making cold air or better put removing heat from hot air is an expensive process. Then too, I like my creature comforts.

Ron

 

Or a really large heatsink like they are doing in China

http://mashable.com/2017/06/08/china-biggest-floating-solar-project/#Kg17QzyoEkqI