Experimental and Theoretical Study of PV Cooling Using Paraffin PCM and Trisodium-Phosphate (TSP) Solution in Arid Climates

Abstract

This study is important because it provides the first experimentally validated assessment of a hybrid photovoltaic cooling system that integrates paraffin phase-change material (PCM) with a circulating trisodium phosphate (TSP) solution under high-irradiance arid conditions. The system couples a rear-mounted paraffin PCM (20 kg) contained in an aluminum channel with a 0.375-M TSP aqueous solution circulating through serpentine copper tubing at a flow rate of 1 L min⁻¹ (1.6667 × 10⁻⁵ m³ s⁻¹). Field experiments were conducted in Sharqat, Tikrit, Iraq, on a 60 × 150 cm PV module under natural solar irradiance. Four configurations were evaluated: (1) uncooled (reference), (2) water cooling only, (3) water + PCM, and (4) TSP + PCM. Electrical and thermal measurements were made, which included PV cell temperatures and coolant in/outlet temperatures. A model of PV–PCM–fluid coupling heat-transfer using MATLAB was successfully established to compare with the data. Such results illustrate that the integration of PCM and TSP reduces the module temperature dramatically while simultaneously improving both electrical power output and conversion efficiency, compared with the other modes. In addition, the hot coolant can be utilized in domestic hot-water service. The SOEC system with the PCM + TSP low-cost hybrid design leads to a noticeable enhancement in electrical efficiency (from 6.65% to 11.44%) and delivers recoverable thermal energy at the same time (absolute increase = 4.79%, relative increment = 72.0%). The corresponding 1-D MATLAB model exhibits a good agreement with the measurements (0.53%–12.1%) and provides meaningful sensitivity-related considerations for PCM mass, coolant concentration, and flow rate. The novelty of the paper is its verification and validation real world for the PCM–TSP hybrid approach, as well as simple and reproducible performance data that are useful to all those scientists who are working into optimal design of PV TTM and electrical power-thermal recovery systems. The suggested system also has environmental and economic benefits because it makes PV last longer, increases energy yield, and lets heat be reused. It can also be easily scaled up for different PV systems using cheap materials.