Performance Enhancement of New Concentrator Photovoltaic System Using Phase Change Material/Water Cooling Technique

Abstract

In the current study, a new hybrid heat sink combining phase change material and water cooling for low concentrator photovoltaic thermal management is introduced and analyzed. Unlike the previously introduced systems, the proposed one meets the requirements for practical applications, such as higher cooling efficiency over a longer period of time, reliability, low operating and maintenance costs, and the ability to store and reuse the system’s extracted thermal energy, thereby increasing total system efficiency. Furthermore, the new system combines the benefits of both active and passive thermal regulation systems, achieving a significant reduction in solar cell temperature when compared to passive systems and saving energy when compared to active systems. The study compares the performance of the developed new system with phase change material and water cooling to that of the conventional system with only phase change material cooling under various operating conditions. To that purpose, a comprehensive two-dimensional model of photovoltaic layers integrated with the hybrid phase change material-water based heat sink is developed. The uncooled PV model and the combined PV-PCM model are verified with experimental results in the literature. The model incorporates thermo-fluid models that account for phase transition phenomena and liquid flow in the heat sink domain, as well as a thermal model for the entire solar cell layers. The findings of this study show that the incorporation of phase change material and water cooling attains a remarkable reduction in the solar cell temperature with reasonable temperature uniformity and efficient thermal energy management. The reduction of average temperature and efficient thermal energy management leads to an increase in generated electrical energy and more thermal energy storage in the heat sink, both of which are reflected by higher cumulative electrical, thermal, and total efficiencies. The present findings can open doors for further research into merging the advantages of passive and active thermal regulation for low concentrator photovoltaic systems.