Abstract
Photovoltaic (PV) panel, coupled with phase change material (PCM), has attracted broad attention for the panel's thermal management. Despite the higher energy storage capability of PCMs, the main disadvantage is their low thermal conductivity which is compensated to an extent with the nano-enhanced PCMs (NEPCMs). In this study, numerical simulations are carried out to compare the heat transfer phenomena and thermal response of PV-NEPCM with simple PV-PCM for various tilt angles. CuO nanoparticles with mass concentrations of 1%, 3% and 5% are selected for NEPCM. The thermal performance of PV-NEPCM at inclinations of 0°, 15°, 30° and 45 [Formula: see text] is compared with a simple PV-PCM system to know the effect of mass concentration of nanoparticles and inclination. The average temperature of PV, liquid fraction and thermal energy stored in PCM, the pattern of isotherms and streamlines and performance of PV are compared for PV-PCM and PV-NEPCM systems. Results show that the loading of nanoparticles increases the heat transfer rate to PCM in all the configurations. It has also been shown that at lower inclinations, the use of NEPCM is more effective due to the presence of conduction heat transfer. At higher tilt angles, heat transfer from the PV module takes place by natural convection. By using NEPCM, the maximum decrease in PV temperature of 1.26 [Formula: see text] and maximum improvement in the liquid fraction of 8.25% are achieved when [Formula: see text] with 5% mass concentration of nanoparticles compared to simple PCM. Enhancement of thermal energy stored in PCM increases upon adding nanoparticles, and the highest improvement is obtained for [Formula: see text] Maximum enhancement of efficiency of PV module is found to be 1.75% for [Formula: see text] inclination on adding nanoparticles of 5% mass concentration.
Highlights
Energy utilisation is growing exponentially in this era of rising population, and the demand for renewable energy is increasing significantly from the last decade onwards
The results are obtained in terms of the transient temperature profile of the PV module, the liquid fraction of nano-enhanced PCMs (NEPCMs) and thermal energy storage in NEPCM, which provide a better vision of the heat transfer process in the systems
For NEPCM (φ = 4%), the thermal conductivity increases with the presence of the nanoparticles, which results in an increased conduction heat transfer rate compared to pure phase change material (PCM)
Summary
Energy utilisation is growing exponentially in this era of rising population, and the demand for renewable energy is increasing significantly from the last decade onwards. Solar energy, which is derived from the sun, is the most abundant renewable energy that can meet today's demands. With the help of solar photovoltaics, solar energy from the sun that falls on the earth's surface can be transformed into electrical energy. Photovoltaics (PV), referred to as solar cells, are solid-state devices that directly converts solar energy into electricity. Depending on the PV cell material and climatic conditions, a standard PV converts 6-20% of the incident solar radiation into electricity, and the remainder is converted to thermal energy, which increases the temperature of the PV cell to 50°C above ambient (David Tan 2011). The temperature coefficient of power is an important differentiator in solar PV efficiency, in hot climates. The efficiency of PV cells degrades as the temperature of the cells increase (Hegedus 2003)
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