Performance analysis of concentrated photovoltaic systems using thermoelectric module with phase change material

Abstract

A photovoltaic (PV) module integrated with a cooling system can generate higher electrical energy in comparison to a conventional PV module that is without a cooling system. Phase change materials (PCMs) and/or thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are some of the several passive cooling methods used in enhancing the energy output of PVs. Herein, a comprehensive numerical study of highly concentrated standalone photovoltaic (CPV), CPV-PCM, CPV-TE, CPV-PCM-TE, and CPV-TE-PCM systems is conducted in COMSOL Multiphysics environment. In addition to analysing the energy output of the systems, the study explores the effect of using different PCMs as well as PCM containers with different internal configurations on the energy output of the systems. The results revealed that the energy conversion efficiencies of the CPV-PCM, CPV-TE, CPV-PCM-TE, and CPV-TE-PCM are respectively 34.8 %, 97.3 %, 106.5 %, and 111.4 % higher than that of the standalone CPV system. These results also indicated that the CPV-TE-PCM configuration is superior to the other configurations, this is due to the creation of a large temperature gradient which enhances the performance of the TEG. Moreover, it was determined that the ideal melting temperature of a PCM should be a few degrees above the ambient temperature; in this study, RT28HC PCM is found to be the most suitable PCM for cooling the systems. Finally, it was revealed that changing the fin configurations inside a PCM container has an insignificant influence on the energy efficiencies of highly concentrated PV models.