Design and experimental evaluation of a PV /T system cooled by advanced methods

Abstract

Photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) systems combine a hybrid photovoltaic (PV) module and a flat-plate solar thermal collector. The hybrid design allows for simultaneou increase in thermal energy while providing cooling for the PV module. In doing so, the PV module temperature drops, and therefore the electrical efficiency increases. Another benefit of PV/T collectors is that they allow for the usage of thermal, and PV module in the same area and so that saved space for the consumer. This study presents a numerical (CFD) design and experimental evaluation of a PV/T system cooled by nano-PCM and nanofluid. The selected nanomaterial and PCM were nano-silicon carbide (SiC) and paraffin, respectively. Nano-silicon carbide particles were employed with the paraffin to ameliorate its thermal conductivity. The study examined various aspects of the system such as the SiC particles' optimal mass fraction suspended in both water (base fluid) and paraffin, the optimum mass flow rate of nanofluid, voltage and current of the PV module, thermal energy of solar thermal collector, and the combined PV/T efficiency. The numerical and practical results were very close, which proves the validity of the hypotheses used in building the program. The significance of this study is demonstrated by the result as this design led to maximum thermal and electrical efficiencies of 72% and 13.7%, respectively. The proposed PV/T system introduced better stability of the generated power and thermal efficiency at peak time than the other two studied systems.