Increased photovoltaic performance through temperature regulation by phase change materials: Materials comparison in different climates

Abstract

A photovoltaic–phase change material (PV–PCM) system has been developed to reduce photovoltaic (PV) temperature dependent power loss. The system has been evaluated outdoors with two phase change materials (PCMs); a salt hydrate, CaCl2⋅6H2O and a eutectic mixture of fatty acids, capric acid–palmitic acid in two different climates of Dublin, Ireland (53.33N, 6.25W) and Vehari, Pakistan (30.03N, 72.25E). Both the integrated PCMs maintained lower PV panel temperature than the reference PV panel. Salt hydrate CaCl2⋅6H2O maintained lower PV temperature than capric–palmitic acid at both the tested sites. The lower PV temperatures effected by the use of the PCMs prevented the associated PV power loss and increased PV conversion efficiencies. Both the PCMs attained higher temperature drop in warm and stable weather conditions of Vehari than the cooler and variant weather conditions of Dublin.