Energy Equipment and Systems

Energy Equipment and Systems

Numerical study of thermal management and performance enhancement of finned solar cells by phase change materials

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
The unfavorable heat generation in photovoltaic (PV) panels results in an increased average temperature of PV, followed by decreased electrical performance of the entire system. One can reduce the average temperature of the photovoltaic panel using a phase change material (PCM) at its back which improves the electrical efficiency of the photovoltaic panel. Nonetheless, the low thermal conductivity of the phase change material leads to its poor cooling efficiency. The application of fins can enhance heat transfer through PCM. This investigation conducts a numerical estimation of the geometrical improvement of fins in a phase change material integrated PV system featuring interior fins. The contribution of geometrical characteristics, such as type, fin length, shape, and also disposition angle, to the efficiency of the PCM amalgamated PV module has been investigated. In addition, when the fin length is increased from 0 to 20mm, the efficiency and operating temperature of the photovoltaic panel improved by 3.5% and 2.7%, respectively. To investigate the impact of shape of the fin on its cooling performance, five different fin shapes have been considered. The results show that triple-branched fins exhibited 1.2% and 1.5% augmentation in the mean working temperature of the PV module and performance of the system, respectively, when compared to the traditional rectangular fins. Moreover, comparative results indicate that compared to the conventional rectangular PCM encapsulation, in case of employing non-rectangular PCM encapsulations with higher top to bottom ratio higher cooling performance and melting rate of PCM is achieved.
Keywords

[1] R. Kumar, V. Deshmukh, and R. Singh Bharj, “Performance enhancement of photovoltaic modules by nanofluid cooling: A comprehensive review,” Energy Res., vol. 44, no. 8, pp. 6149–6169, 2020.
[2] K. A. Emery et al., “Temperature dependence of photovoltaic cells, modules and systems,” Conf. Rec. IEEE Photovolt. Spec. Conf. 1996, pp. 1275–1278, 1996.
[3] Akshayveer, A. Kumar, A. P. Singh, and O. P. Singh, “Effect of novel PCM encapsulation designs on electrical and thermal performance of a hybrid photovoltaic solar panel,” Sol. Energy, vol. 205, pp. 320–333, 2020.
[4] H. Ami Ahmadi, N. Variji, A. Kaabinejadian, M. Moghimi, and M. Siavashi, “Optimal design and sensitivity analysis of energy storage for concentrated solar power plants using phase change material by gradient metal foams,” J. Energy Storage, vol. 35, 2021, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2021.102233.
[5] A. Ghahremannezhad, H. Xu, M. R. Salimpour, P. Wang, and K. Vafai, “Thermal Performance Analysis of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) Embedded in Gradient Porous Metal Foams,” Appl. Therm. Eng., vol. 179, p. 115731, 2020.
[6] N. Asfattahi et al., “Improved thermo‑physical properties and energy efficiency of hybrid PCM/graphene‑silver nanocomposite in a hybrid CPV/thermal solar system,” J. Therm. Anal. Calorim., 2020.
[7] A. Ejaz, F. Jamil, and H. Muhammad Ali, “A novel thermal regulation of photovoltaic panels through phase change materials with metallic foam-based system and a concise comparison: An experimental study,” Sustain. Energy Technol. Assess., vol. 49, p. 101726, 2022.
[8] A. Naghdbishi, M. Eftekhari Yazdi, G. Akbari, “Numerical study on the performance of a glazed photovoltaic thermal system integrated with phase change material (GPVT/PCM): on the contribution of PCM volumetric fraction and environmental temperature, ” Energy Equipment and Systems, vol. 10, p. 137-168, 2022.
[9] S. Rahmanian, H. Rahmanian-Koushkaki, P. Omidvar, and A. Shahsavar, “Nanofluid-PCM heat sink for building integrated concentrated photovoltaic with thermal energy storage and recovery capability,” Sustain. Energy Technol. Assess., vol. 46, p. 101223, 2021.
[10]H. E. Abdelrahman, M. H. Wahba, H. A. Refaey, M. Moawad, and N. S. Berbish, “Performance enhancement of photovoltaic cells by changing configuration and using PCM (RT35HC) with nanoparticles Al2O3,” Sol. Energy, vol. 177, pp. 665–671, 2019.
[11]M. Shirinbakhsh, N. Mirkhani, B. Sajadi, “Optimization of the PCM-integrated solar domestic hot water system under different thermal stratification conditions,” Energy Equipment and Systems, vol. 4, p. 271-279, 2016.
[12]M. Sheikholeslami, A. Ghasemi, Z. Li, A. Shafee, and S. Saleem, “Influence of CuO nanoparticles on heat transfer behavior of PCM in solidification process considering radiative source term,” Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., vol. 126, pp. 1252–1264, 2018.
[13]P. H. Biwole, P. Eclache, and F. Kuznik, “Phase-change materials to improve solar panel’s performance,” Energy Build., vol. 62, pp. 59–67, 2013.
[14]B. Hadidi, F. Veysi, “Numerical investigation of the simultaneous utilization of multiple phase change materials in the performance of thermal management system combined with heat sink,” Energy Equipment and Systems, vol. 11, p. 455-481, 2023.
[15]W.-B. Ye, “Enhanced latent heat thermal energy storage in the double tubes using fins,” J. Therm. Anal. Calorim., vol. 128, no. 1, pp. 533–540, 2016.
[16]S. Rashidi, J. Abolfazli Esfahani, and N. Karimi, “Porous materials in building energy technologies—A review of the applications, modelling and experiments,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 91, pp. 229–247, 2018.
[17]J. M. Mahdi and E. C. Nsofor, “Multiple-segment metal foam application in the shell-and-tube PCM thermal energy storage system,” J. Energy Storage, vol. 20, pp. 529–541, 2018.
[18]A. Hussain, C. Y. Tso, and C. Y.H.Chao, “Experimental investigation of a passive thermal management system for high-powered lithium ion batteries using nickel foam-paraffin composite,” Energy, vol. 115, pp. 209–218, 2016.
[19]H. Badenhorst, “A review of the application of carbon materials in solar thermal energy storage,” Sol. Energy, vol. 192, no. 1, pp. 35–68, 2019.
[20]A. I. A. Al-Musawi, A. Taheri, A. Farzanehnia, M. Sardarabadi, and M. Passandideh-Fard, “Numerical study of the effects of nanofluids and phase-change materials in photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems,” J. Therm. Anal. Calorim., vol. 137, pp. 623–636, 2019.
[21]P. M. Kumar, K. Mylsamy, K. Alagar, and K. Sudhakar, “Investigations on an evacuated tube solar water heater using hybrid-nano based organic phase change material,” Int. J. Green Energy, pp. 872–883, 2020.
[22]M. K. Pasupathi, K. Alagar, M. J. Stalin P., M. M. M., and G. Aritra, “Characterization of Hybrid-nano/Paraffin Organic Phase Change Material for Thermal Energy Storage Applications in Solar Thermal Systems,” Energies, vol. 13, no. 19, 2020.
[23]S. Khanna, K. S. Reddy, and T. K. Mallick, “Optimization of finned solar photovoltaic phase change material (finned pv pcm) system,” Int. J. Therm. Sci., vol. 130, pp. 313–322, 2018.
[24]M. L. Benlekkam, D. Nehari, and H. I. Madani, “The thermal impact of the fin tilt angle and its orientation on performance of PV cell using PCM,” Int. J. Heat Technol., vol. 36, pp. 919–926, 2018.
[25]S. Khanna, K. S. Reddy, and T. K. Mallick, “Effect of climate on electrical performance of finned phase change material integrated solar photovoltaic,” Sol. Energy, vol. 174, pp. 593–605, 2018.
[26]S. Khanna, K. S. Reddy, and T. K. Mallick, “Performance analysis of tilted photovoltaic system integrated with phase change material under varying operating conditions,” Energy, vol. 133, p. 887–899, 2017.
[27]A. Ahmad, H. Navarro, S. Ghosh, Y. Ding, and J. N. Roy, “Evaluation of New PCM/PV Configurations for Electrical Energy Efficiency Improvement through Thermal Management of PV Systems,” Energies, vol. 14, p. 4130, 2021.
[28]Z. Rostami, N. Heidari, M. Rahimi, and N. Azimi, “Enhancing the thermal performance of a photovoltaic panel using nano‑graphite/paraffin composite as phase change material,” J. Therm. Anal. Calorim., 2021.
[29]A. Naseer et al., “Role of phase change materials thickness for photovoltaic thermal management,” Sustain. Energy Technol. Assess., vol. 49, p. 101719, 2022.
[30]“Rubitherm GmbH, Rubitherm Data Sheet, Rubitherm GmbH, Hamburg.” 2000.
[31]D. L. Evans and L. W. Florschuetz, “Cost studies on terrestrial photovoltaic power systems with sunlight concentration,” Sol. Energy, vol. 19, no. 3, p. 255–262, 1977.