# Enhancement of PV Panel Power Production by Passive Cooling Using Heat Sinks with Perforated Fins  
[PERSON] 1, [PERSON] 1, [PERSON] 1, [PERSON], [PERSON] and [PERSON]  
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, 700050 Iasi, Romania; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (C.G.P. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (M.V. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (I.H.) Footnote 1: [[https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci](https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci)]([https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci](https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci))  
Footnote 2: [[https://www.mdpi.com/journals/pdf/10.399/10](https://www.mdpi.com/journals/pdf/10.399/10)]([https://www.mdpi.com/journals/pdf/10.399/10](https://www.mdpi.com/journals/pdf/10.399/10)). Photovoltaic conversion has important advantages: the energy source is renewable and free, and the processes of electricity production are environmentally friendly (in terms of CO\({}_{2}\) and NOx emissions, waste, noise etc.). The generation of electricity is achieved without the use of moving parts, so the cost of maintenance is reduced. Furthermore, the energy produced is consumed locally, which results in reduced power losses. By implementing efficient PV systems, the safety of the users of the electricity supply is increased [4; 5]. These systems also reduce the vulnerability of European space and could eliminate future energy crises or the lack of an energy supply. Considering the long service life and the low CO\({}_{2}\) emissions of PV systems, they represent a sustainable alternative to electricity production. In addition, the energy market in Europe, which lately has been affected by internal and external factors, could become more stable and competitive by increasing the power it produces and the number of users of photovoltaic systems [6]. The main environmental parameters, which are influencing the efficiency and the lifetime of PV panels are solar radiation, wind velocity and direction, dust, ambient temperature and their operating temperature. Most of these meteorological parameters are random and uncontrollable. From the point of view of the installation methods, the tilt angle, orientation and positioning are very difficult to manage in the case of typical PV systems [7; 8]. However, the management of the operating temperature of PV cells has been demonstrated to be a good solution for enhancing their efficiency [9]. Almost 80% of the solar energy incident on the PV panel's surface is converted into heat, and it is well known that the performance of PV panels is temperature-dependent [9; 10]. [PERSON], [PERSON] et al. [10] analyzed different methods and relations for calculating the dependence between conversion efficiency and photovoltaic cell temperature; a linear dependence between efficiency and temperature has been proved. The decrease in the efficiency of the produced power related to the increase in the temperature has values between \(-\)0.46--0.50%/\({}^{\circ}\)C and \(-\)0.47--0.50%/\({}^{\circ}\)C, respectively [11; 12; 13]. Taking into account that the power of a photovoltaic cell is influenced by the temperature and radiation levels, standard test condition (STC) parameters were defined: \(t_{PV}\) = 25 \({}^{\circ}\)C, \(G\) = 1000 W/m\({}^{2}\), AM1.5 [14]. In STCs the PV panels produce the watt peak power [Wp], but a real concern is that in regular operation, at 1000 W/m\({}^{2}\), the photovoltaic panels can reach extreme temperatures of 70-80 \({}^{\circ}\)C [11; 15; 16], leading to a significant decrease in the efficiency. Complementary cooling solutions are recommended in order to achieve high productivity [17; 18; 19; 20; 21]. The literature presents a large number of papers on different solutions for improving the conversion efficiency by decreasing the temperature of the photovoltaic panels [13; 15; 20; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27]. Concepts frequently used in analyzing PV systems are the NOCT (nominal operating cell temperature) conditions.