CFD Investigation of Thermal and Electrical Behavior of Photovoltaic Modules Equipped with Heat Sinks and Vortex Generators

The Photovoltaic (PV) modules suffer performance losses at high operating temperatures, especially in hot and low-wind conditions, making effective cooling essential. This study numerically investigates a fan-assisted PV cooling duct equipped with heat sinks and vortex generators (VGs) using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The novelty of the work lies in the integrated evaluation of duct height, fin spacing, VG height, inclination angle, and attack angle within a single forced-convection framework. The model was validated against published benchmark data with deviations below ۵%. The results demonstrate that the reduction of duct height from ۲۰۰ mm to ۱۰۰ mm can decrease the PV surface temperature by ۱۰ °C and among all finned cases, the array with ۲۲ fins exhibited maximum cooling whilst the best compromise between heat-transfer enhancement and pressure drop was provided by using an arrangement with ۱۸ fins in a given area. Thermal performance improved with increasing VG height, but the ۴۰ mm VG gave the greatest heat-transfer coefficient at the cost of relatively high-pressure loss. In the ۹۰° case, VG orientation achieved the highest electrical efficiency at (Re = ۱۱۰۰۰), achieving an electrical efficiency of ۱۶.۹% and maximum achievable electrical power output of approximately ۸۸ W, after accounting for DC fan power consumption, with the ۹۰° VG configuration still showing the highest system electrical power. The ۳۰° scenario, by contrast, resulted in the best thermal efficiency–nearly ۸۰% and the greatest thermal power–over ۴۲۰ W demonstrating practical merit in providing guidance for selecting PV cooling configurations based on specific electrical-output or thermal-recovery priorities.

کلیدواژه ها:

Photovoltaic cooling ، Computational Fluid Dynamics ، heat sinks ، Vortex Generators ، Thermal-electrical Performance ، Forced Convection