DOI: https://doi.org/10.61435/ijred.2026.62339

CFD Analysis of Photovoltaic Panel Performance under Variable Weather Conditions with Natural and Forced Convective Cooling

1Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Kirkuk, Kirkuk 36001, Iraq, Iraq

2Department of Mechanical Power Techniques Engineering, Technical College Engineering- Kirkuk, Northern Technical University, Kirkuk 36001, Iraq, Iraq

3Chemical industry technologies Department, Kirkuk Polytechnic College, Northern Technical University, Kirkuk 36001, Iraq, Iraq

Received: 6 Feb 2026; Published: 30 Apr 2026.
Editor(s): Editor Office
Open Access Copyright (c) 2025 The Author(s). Published by Centre of Biomass and Renewable Energy (CBIORE)
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Abstract
The objective of this study is to numerically investigate the influence of climatic conditions, particularly ambient temperature and relative humidity, on the thermal and electrical performance of photovoltaic (PV) panels, and to evaluate the effectiveness of natural and forced convection cooling for both conventional and finned panel configurations. A multilevel computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed using ANSYS Fluent 16.1 under realistic environmental conditions of Baghdad, Iraq. Two configurations were examined: a conventional flat panel and a modified panel equipped with longitudinal fins acting as a passive heat sink. The simulations incorporated solar radiation, species transport to account for humidity effects, and the k–ω turbulence model under both natural and forced convection, with an inlet air velocity of 1.5 m/s for forced cooling. The results indicate that under natural convection, the conventional panel reached a maximum surface temperature of 333.11 K with an electrical efficiency of 27.8%, while forced convection reduced the temperature to 319.22 K, increasing efficiency to 29.88% (7.5% improvement). The finned configuration reduced the temperature to 327.4 K under natural cooling, improving efficiency to 28.66% (~3% increase), and further to 315.5 K under forced cooling, achieving a peak efficiency of 30.43%. This corresponds to improvements of 9.4% compared to the conventional natural cooling case and 6.17% compared to the finned natural cooling case. Annual average results demonstrate that the finned design enhances electrical efficiency by approximately 2% under natural convection and up to 6.53% under forced convection, while forced cooling of the conventional panel yields a 3.12% improvement. The enhancement is primarily attributed to increased heat transfer surface area and improved convective mixing, particularly under natural convection where fin-induced vortices significantly enhance heat dissipation. 
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Keywords: Solar energy; Photovoltaic; fins; computational fluid dynamics; Thermodynamic analysis; finite volume method

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Section: Original Research Article
Language : EN
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