Design methodology and performance analysis of a novel cooling system for dense array CPV receivers

Abstract

The electrical performance of a dense array concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) receiver is reduced by the increase of average temperature, and by a non-uniform temperature map due to a non-uniform illumination profile. This can be reversed by an effective cooling system that allows the CPV cells to operate at nominal temperatures, as well as by optimal cell control at electrical level. An analysis that considers the interdependence between thermal and electrical behavior is essential for obtaining realistic performance results. Hence, this study presents a methodology for analyzing the performance of a CPV receiver controlled with DC-DC converters which considers the interaction between thermal and electrical behavior. The methodology allows to optimize the design of a novel jet impingement cooling system used in the receiver. Additionally, the efficiency of three different sizes of CPV receivers cooled by two technologies, microchannels and jet impingement, are analyzed. The results show that maximum receiver efficiency did not coincide with the maximum heat extraction coefficient. The study confirmed that larger receiver sizes had lower efficiency due to the mismatch losses and resulted more efficient (0.6 %) using the proposed jet impingement cooling system compared to microchannels.