Header impact assessment of double-layer microchannel heat sink in the computational fluid mechanics simulation for CPV thermal management

Abstract

Thermal management is extremely required for concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) to prevent any thermal stress or physical damage. Yet, offering an adequate, reliable, and practical thermal management system for CPV is still challenging. In this work, the double-layer microchannel heat sink (DL-MCHS) is investigated for CPV cooling. To achieve this objective, a three-dimensional (3D) conjugate heat transfer model for the fluid flow in the DL-MCHS coupled with the thermal model for the solar cell, is done. The assessment of considering the inlet and outlet headers in the computational fluid mechanics (CFD) simulations are highlighted. The results reveal that including headers in the numerical study leads to predicting the accurate thermo-hydraulic performance of the DL-MCHS, especially in the CF. However, slight predicted variations have been obtained when PF operated. Moreover, neglecting the header in the CFD calculations significantly affect the calculated pumping power for both PF and CF operated. The potential of this intensive study demonstrates that there is an obvious difference in the CFD simulation figures when the DL-MCHS attached by headers in the CFD calculations.