Nanofluid cooling optimization of high concentration photovoltaic panels

Abstract

In The present paper, we study numerically the cooling system of a solar panel under concentration. For this three cooling cases are chosen. The first case consists of a vertical rectangular cavity of length 0.15 m which contains 8 solar cells. In the second case, the rectangular cavity is assumed to be horizontal with a length of 0.2 m comprising 12 solar cells. The last case is a cross-cavity of 20 solar cells which is defined by the intersection between the first vertical cell and the last horizontal cell. The continuity, momentum, and energy equations were solved by means of a finite element method (FEM). Three different types of nanoparticles Al2O3, Cu and TiO2 with two volume fraction values of nanofluids of 4% and 8%, and Reylonds number in the range of 3000<Re<30000 are considered in the present investigation. The walls that contain the solar cells are maintained at a hot temperature. The numerical results indicate that the Average Nusselt number increases with the increase of the Reynolds number and the volume fraction of nanoparticles. Also the cross cell temperature decrease along the arc length.In The present paper, we study numerically the cooling system of a solar panel under concentration. For this three cooling cases are chosen. The first case consists of a vertical rectangular cavity of length 0.15 m which contains 8 solar cells. In the second case, the rectangular cavity is assumed to be horizontal with a length of 0.2 m comprising 12 solar cells. The last case is a cross-cavity of 20 solar cells which is defined by the intersection between the first vertical cell and the last horizontal cell. The continuity, momentum, and energy equations were solved by means of a finite element method (FEM). Three different types of nanoparticles Al2O3, Cu and TiO2 with two volume fraction values of nanofluids of 4% and 8%, and Reylonds number in the range of 3000<Re<30000 are considered in the present investigation. The walls that contain the solar cells are maintained at a hot temperature. The numerical results indicate that the Average Nusselt number increases with the increase of the Reynolds number ...