Computational fluid dynamics study for the optimization of surface temperature profile of photovoltaic/thermal system

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study to obtain uniform thermal characteristics on the front surface of solar cell module has been studied. The performance of PV panels significantly reduces with high temperature of solar cell and low temperature uniformity. For the optimization process, photovoltaic-thermal (PV/T) system has been analyzed in this paper for the meteorogical conditions of Dhahran. The effect of reducing heat exchanger's cross section area by changing the bas angle on the temperature profile has been studied using FLUENT software. Based on the CFD simulations of temperature profile, two degree angle was selected for the heat exchanger in PV/T system because of least mean temperature deviation. The temperature distribution for cooled PV showed an approximate uniform temperature profile and was able to reduce the cell temperature from 71°C to 45.2°C for the operating conditions in Dhahran in the month of June. From the electrical point of view, maximum energy yield increased from 11.9 W to 16.2W using the proposed uniform temperature heat exchanger.