Thermal management of PV cell in HCPV/T system: Cooling by mini-channel with pin-fin and jet impingement

Abstract

This study examines the effects of two novel arrangements of circular pin-fins, inline and staggered, radial distance between the pin-fins and number of water outlets of a heat sink on temperature reduction of a triple-junction photovoltaic cell in a highly concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (HCP V/T) system under concentration ratio of 450 Suns with jet impingement. Results indicate the case of staggered arrangement which includes four flow outlets and passes 0.001 kg/s, proposes about 2.32% photovoltaic temperature reduction and 15.57% improvement in Nusselt number. It is also shown that for this case, as the distance increases and when the mass flow of the fluid rises from 0.001 kg/s to 0.0013 kg/s, 4.88% improvement in the electrical efficiency is obtained. Regardless of mass flow rate, the cases of staggered arrangement lead to a lower cell temperature in comparison with its inline counterpart. Besides, the cell temperature and electrical efficiency are improved 0.277% and 0.215% in two-outlet configuration.