CFD Simulation of Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) Cooling System with Various Channel Geometries

Photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) is a solution for solar energy conversion devices to increase their efficiency. One of the challenges of PV/T is maintaining the temperature at optimal working conditions. Various studies have been conducted to improve PV/T performance, one of which is through the design of thermal collectors on PV/T. In this study, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted using four different types of channels: circular, hexagonal, semi-circular, and square. The channels were made with the same tube cross-sectional area and mass flow rate of ۰.۰۰۱۶ m۲ and ۰.۰۰۹۶ kg/s, respectively. The simulation results show that the circular channel numerically gives the lowest PV cell temperature, ۳۱۷.۹۵ K, with an electrical efficiency of ۱۴.۷۰% and a thermal efficiency of ۴۴.۱۸%. This is because the water velocity in the circular channel can be faster than the other channels.  The circular channel has a thinner boundary layer, so the velocity is maximized, and the heat transfer rate increases.

کلیدواژه ها:

Photovoltaic ، PV/T ، Cooling system ، Flow geometries ، Flow characteristics