Optimum heat spreader size for producing maximum net power from high‐concentration photovoltaic systems

Abstract

The present study introduces an analytical approach for predicting net power for high-concentrating photovoltaic systems (HCPV). Wind speed, surface radiation, and size of the backplate, which acts as a heat spreader, were found to be of high impact in increasing solar cell efficiency and maximum produced power. The efficiency increased by 5% as the wind shifted from light air (0.5 m/s) to fresh breeze (10 m/s). Also, it increased by 1.64% as the aluminium backplate shifted from a shiny (ɛ = 0) to a dark (ɛ = 1) surface. Furthermore, increasing heat-spreader length or wind velocity caused a logarithmic increase in solar cell efficiency. On the other hand, both parameters caused an exponential increase in consumed power due to the operation of a tracking system. Thus, optimal values of heat-spreader length at which maximum net power is produced exist. A case study based on the annual average values of the hourly-basis meteorological data for the period 2015 to 2018 for two cities in Saudi Arabia was conducted. It was found that the size of the heat spreader could be reduced by 36% for concentration ratio up to 2000 while concurrently increasing the net power by 2.6% and 6% for the systems built in Riyadh and Dammam, respectively.