Air cooling low concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (LCPV/T) solar collector to approach uniform temperature distribution on the PV plate

•Concentrator improved electrical, thermal and overall efficiency 36, 42.2 and 40.5%.•Diffuser with concave side walls can diffuse air more uniform.•Uniformity of air flow achieved by employing right number of deflectors.•Concave side walls diffuser deflectors solved hot spot problem on the PV.•Elec...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied thermal engineering 2018-08, Vol.141, p.413-421
Main Authors: Amanlou, Yasaman, Tavakoli Hashjin, Teymour, Ghobadian, Barat, Najafi, G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerodynamics
Air cooling
Air flow
Air flow distribution
Computational fluid dynamics
Computer simulation
Concentrators
Cooling
Deflectors
Diffuser
Diffusers
Diffusion
Efficiency
Energy efficiency
Flow distribution
Flow velocity
Photovoltaic cells
Photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) collectors
Solar cells
Temperature distribution
Thermal energy
Uniformity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•Concentrator improved electrical, thermal and overall efficiency 36, 42.2 and 40.5%.•Diffuser with concave side walls can diffuse air more uniform.•Uniformity of air flow achieved by employing right number of deflectors.•Concave side walls diffuser deflectors solved hot spot problem on the PV.•Elec., ther. Effic. improved 13.5, 22.75 by increasing air flow from 0.008 to 0.016 kg/s. In this study, to prevent local excessive temperature on a photovoltaic module, uniformity of air flow as cooling fluid in a low concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (LCPV/T) collector has considered. To obtain a uniform distribution of airflow taking into account the overall operating conditions, eight different geometries of diffuser were investigated theoretically by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Simulations were conducted on the most appropriate sketch with acceptable uniform air flow distribution on the PV module. The experimental results showed that the new designed diffuser significantly developed an even distribution of air velocity throughout the collector. Comparing the results with the previously published results showed that the new diffuser concave side walls and three inner deflectors improved the electrical efficiency of the PV/T collector by 20%. Also the effects of air flow rates (three levels) and concentrated solar illumination on the performance of a PV/System was experimentally measured. Using a concentrator improves electrical, thermal and overall efficiency by 36%, 42.2% and 40.5% respectively. By increasing air flow rate from 0.008 to 0.016 (kg/s); the electrical, thermal and overall efficiency were improved by 13.5, 22.75 and 22.41% respectively.
ISSN:1359-4311
1873-5606
DOI:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2018.05.070