Performance enhancement of solar photovoltaic system for roof top garden.

The photovoltaic (PV) for irrigation system is an emerging technology to harness the solar energy. The performance of the PV modules depends on the incident solar radiation, geographical location, and the surface temperature of the modules. The performance of the PV system needs to be monitored by manually or embedded controllers. The commercially available technologies for monitoring the system are costlier and need to be optimized. The Arduino controller is used to monitor the performance of the photovoltaic (PV) system in Coimbatore (11.016° N, 76.9558° E), Tamilnadu, India. The PV surface temperature is monitored and controlled by flowing the water above the module by setting the mean ambient temperature as a reference temperature 34 °C when the system exceeds the reference temperature. PV surface temperature is reduced up to 16°C thus improved the electrical efficiency by 17% compare to the reference module. The Arduino controller control the relay to switch on the motor to control the mass flow rate of the water at 0.0028kg/s. The various parameters are measured such as voltage, current, and solar radiation of the location and analyzed. The estimated cost of monitoring system and various sensor is 10$ which cost comparatively 50% lower than the other PV monitoring controllers. This method can be employed in the medium and large-scale irrigation system.