Abstract
In this study, a micro-encapsulated phase change material (PCM) was composed of sugarcane wax−Al2O3composite as the core material and gelatin−gum Arabic as the polymer shell materials prepared by complex coacervation. The thermal behavior of solar panels integrated with this encapsulated PCM (EPCM) was investigated. The heat storage-dissipation performance and thermal stability of the sugarcane wax−based composite PCM layer with the heat capacity of 2.86 J/g·°C was influenced by its thickness. Increasing the composite PCM layer thickness from 4 mm to 7 mm could lower the module's front-facing glass temperature by 4% resulting in enhanced the photovoltaic power generation by 12% at the peak, because of the temperature storage ability of the composite PCM. Moreover, the thermal conductivity of the microencapsulated sugarcane wax was calculated using a steady-state one-dimensional energy balance equation. The thermal conductivities estimated across the composite PCM layer depth were found to be temperature dependent. A nonlinear regression of the power law thermal conductivity model gave a good agreement with the observed EPCM-surface temperatures.
Highlights
Conversion of solar energy into electricity directly using a photovoltaic (PV) is reduced due to reductions in the open circuit voltage as solar cell temperatures increase (Nada et al, 2018; Brinkworth et al, 1997)
Estore 1⁄4 mcp Ts;i À Ts;f where m is the mass of composite phase change material (PCM), cp is specific heat capacity of encapsulated PCM (EPCM) analyzed by Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique, and Ts;i and Ts;f are initial and final temperatures of the surface exposed to solar radiation (C), respectively
The thickness of the encapsulated sugarcane wax as PCM situated in the back of integrated PV cell had a positive effect on its heat absorbingdissipating performance and its thermal stability
Summary
Conversion of solar energy into electricity directly using a photovoltaic (PV) is reduced due to reductions in the open circuit voltage as solar cell temperatures increase (Nada et al, 2018; Brinkworth et al, 1997). A phase change material (PCM) employs the latent heat of the material as thermal storage with the benefit of greater storage density and “pinning” of the solar panel operating temperature. No study has yet quantified the thermal performance of Al2O3 nanoparticles in sugarcane wax, nor the thermal gradients present in the PCM integrated into a working PV panel. This knowledge is central to the design of functioning PCM-based module cooling layers in the field. Complex coacervation technique was applied for the first time to fabricate encapsulated sugarcane wax with dispersion of Al2O3 nanoparticles as core material to enhance its thermal performance. The proposed one dimensional steadystate energy balance model was applied to estimate thermal conductivity of the composite PCM using simple electro-thermal measurements of integrated PV cell
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