Annual performance study and optimization of concentrated photovoltaic-phase change material system

Abstract

Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) has the superiority of high efficiency and low cost. But the waste heat generated in PV cell has great effect on its performance. To study and optimize the real time photoelectric conversion performance, a two-dimensional PV model was firstly established. The impacts of concentration ratio and PV temperature on efficiency were investigated, and the correlation was derived. Based on that, phase change material (PCM) was utilized to realize temperature control of PV cell and a three-dimensional transient model for CPV-PCM system was established. The impacts of geometric parameters on the transient and annual performance were evaluated under the real climate conditions. The results show that concentration ratio has significant impacts on both thermal and electrical performance, and there exists an optimal concentration ratio to maximize the PV efficiency. At last, the system structure was optimized by orthogonal experimental method with annual average efficiency as the target. The optimal parameters combination was derived with concentration ratio of 300, PCM layer height of 60 mm, and fin number of 7. The validation results show that after optimizing, the maximum PV temperatures in summer and autumn are reduced by 9.4 °C and 7.4 °C, respectively, and the annual average efficiency of the system is improved by 1.83%.