Efficacy of magnetic field on performance of photovoltaic solar system utilizing ferrofluid

Abstract

In this article, photovoltaic (PV) unit has been combined with new cooling technique to ameliorate the efficiency. The operate fluid was mixed with nano-powder (Fe3O4) and vertical magnetic field has been imposed. These techniques can augment the cooling rate of PV cell and efficiency in both view of electrical (ηele) and thermal (ηth). All layers of PV have been modeled with involving heat generation terms and fluid flow with involve of Lorentz force has been analyzed. Finite volume approach for simulating such laminar steady flow has been assumed and single phase formulation for nanomaterial has been utilized. Grid study has been done and case with 1,284,000 elements was chosen to decrease the computing cost. Validations of model in view of modeling MHD flow and PVT system have been performed and good agreement has been reported. Various cases in simulations contain three factors: inlet velocity (Uin = 0.012, 0.095, 0.178 m/s); Hartmann number (Ha = 0, 50, 100); concentration of ferrofluid (ϕ = 0.01, 0.04). With dispersing iron oxide, the temperature of PV decreases and amount of heat enters in fluid increases, thus, ηele and ηth augments around 0.05 % and 0.39 %. As Lorentz force augments the performance of unit in both views (electrical, thermal) augments about (0.78 %, 6.31 %). This behavior is associated with reduction of boundary layer thickness. With augmenting Uin, the cell temperature declines which results in augmentation of ηele and ηth around 6.519 % and 92.97 %.