The thermal improvement of cascade phase change thermal management module for photovoltaic cells

Abstract

Most existing phase change thermal management technologies are uniformly filled phase change modules, resulting in a certain degree of suppression of their phase change heat absorption rate, which seriously hampers the development and application of phase change material (PCM) in thermal management systems for photovoltaic cells. In this regard, a cascade phase change thermal management module for photovoltaic cells was proposed, where paraffin (PA) was used as the phase change matrix, polyethylene octene co-elastomers (POE) and ethylene-ethylene-butadiene-styrene block copolymers (SEBS) were employed as flexible support materials, and expansion graphite (EG) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were utilized as thermally conductive reinforcing materials to synergistically improve the thermal conductivity of the materials, resulting in the preparation of a highly thermally conductive flexible phase change material (SCPCM). The experimental results showed that the maximum thermal conductivity of SCPCM was 1.217 W/(m·K) at a mass fraction of 4 % of EG and 1 % of CNTs, and its latent heat of phase change was 150 J/g. It was also flexible and able to meet the thermal management requirements of photovoltaic cells. In addition, under the simulated sensible heat power of 2000 W/m² irradiation intensity, after coupling a 10 mm phase change layer, the phase change layer of the cascade structure had the most excellent cooling effect, and the maximum temperature was reduced by 4.4 °C.