Performance evaluation of a concentrated Photovoltaic/thermal system based on water and phase change Material: Numerical study and experimental validation

Abstract

Conventional photovoltaic (PV) panels use only 4–17% of incident solar radiation for electricity generation, while the rest is dissipated as heat. Furthermore, the efficiency of a solar cell is dropped by 0.4% per each centigrade degree of temperature rise. Therefore, photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) systems are developed to regulate photovoltaic cell temperature and improve efficiency. This study presents a numerical and experimental investigation of a hybrid cooling system based on water and phase change material to control the temperature of a concentrated photovoltaic panel where the concentrators used in this research are designed and manufactured innovatively. The performance of the proposed system is studied compared to a concentrated photovoltaic cooled only by phase change material which results in 18.5% performance enhancement. Likewise, an all-inclusive simulation is conducted to examine the effect of thermophysical properties of the phase change material and different coolant inlet conditions. Based on the results, the electrical efficiency of the system is improved by 11.76% for a phase change material with higher conductivity and 0.77% for a higher mass flow rate. On the other hand, the seasonal study shows that the proposed system performs better in cold months of the year, including January, November, and March. The system is also investigated from technical economic, and environmental points of view. The results demonstrate a significant improvement in system productivity along with a reduction of 0.02 kg per hour in carbon dioxide emissions.