Abstract
Photovoltaic (PV) combined with phase change material (PV/PCM) system is a hybrid solar system that uses a PCM to reduce the PV temperature and to store energy for other applications. This study aims to increase the integrated PV efficiency of buildings by incorporating PCM while utilizing the stored heat in PCM for controlling indoor conditions. Experiments have been carried out on a prototype PV/PCM air system using monocrystalline PV modules. Transient simulations of the system performance have also been performed using a commercial computational fluid dynamics package based on the finite volume method. The results from simulation were validated by comparing it with experimental results. The results indicate that PCM is effective in limiting temperature rise in PV device and the heat from PCM can enhance night ventilation and decrease the building energy consumption to achieve indoor thermal comfort for certain periods of time.
Highlights
There are factors that can affect the efficiency of a photovoltaic (PV) panel, among which the operating temperature of the PV cell could be a very important one
The results show that the thickness of both Phase change material (PCM) and air duct affects the natural ventilation
This paper presents an experimental and numerical evaluation of PCMs for thermal management of PV devices
Summary
There are factors that can affect the efficiency of a photovoltaic (PV) panel, among which the operating temperature of the PV cell could be a very important one. High operating temperatures lead to a drop in the electrical conversion efficiency at a rate of. The cell temperature can reach 708C which reduces the conversion efficiency by 22.5% drop from the standard test conditions [1]. Researchers have tried out various techniques including active cooling and passive heat removal [2, 3]. Active cases usually use a pump or fan to circulate water or air to cool the PV panel. Passive methods involve the use of a duct at one or both sides of PV for natural ventilation, or high heat capacity material such as PCM at the back of PV for direct absorbing heat
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