Abstract
The focus of this paper is to predict the transient response of a nanoengineered photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system in view of energy and exergy analyses. Instead of a circular-shaped receiver, a trapezoidal-shaped receiver is employed to increase heat transfer surface area with photovoltaic (PV) cells for improvement of heat extraction and thus achievement of a higher PV/T system efficiency. The dynamic mathematical model is developed using MATLAB® software by considering real-time heat transfer coefficients. The proposed model is validated with experimental data from a previous study. Negligible discrepancies were found between measured and predicted data. The validated model was further investigated in detail using different nanofluids by dispersing copper oxide (CuO) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) in pure water. The overall performance of the nanoengineered PV/T system was compared to that of a PV/T system using water only, and optimal operating conditions were determined for maximum useful energy and exergy rates. The results indicated that the CuO/water nanofluid has a notable impact on the energy and exergy efficiencies of the PV/T system compared to that of Al2O3/water nanofluid and water only cases.
Highlights
One of the major challenges facing the world today is the increase in concentrations of greenhouse gases in the environment, which is generally considered as being caused by the substantial use of fossil fuels
A transient mathematical model of the nanoengineered PV/the sky (Ts) system is proposed based on realtime calculation of all heat transfer coefficients
Instead of a circular pipe, a trapezoidalshaped absorber pipe was used with the intention of improving the surface area and, subsequently, the heat extraction from the PV cells
Summary
One of the major challenges facing the world today is the increase in concentrations of greenhouse gases in the environment, which is generally considered as being caused by the substantial use of fossil fuels. Various heat transfer fluids such as water, glycol, ethylene, and acetone have been tried with the purpose of acquiring high collector efficiency [4, 5], but the low thermal conductivity values of these fluids always remain main hurdles to achieving this goal [6]. To cope with this problem, nanofluid as a heat transfer fluid has been introduced. A considerable number of studies available in the literature indicate that the exergy and energy analyses of the PV/T system have been performed considering steadystate heat transfer conditions. To maximize the energy and exergy efficiencies, an optimal mode of operation is determined using different heat transfer fluids and geometrical conditions
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