Energy Performance of an Encapsulated Phase Change Material PV/T System

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the performance of a novel encapsulated phase change material (PCM) photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system. A PCM, which has a high latent heat capacity, can absorb energy from a PV cell and reduce the operating temperature, improving both the electrical and thermal efficiencies of the panel. In this study, a computer model based on a PCM PV/T panel is developed, and its accuracy is verified using experimental data. The effect of the phase change temperature on the performance of the panel was analyzed by numerical simulation. When the phase change temperature was 30.1 °C, the system exhibited a maximum electrical efficiency of 8.2% and a thermal efficiency of 71.8%. When the phase change temperature was 20.24 °C, the system had a maximum exergy efficiency of 33.7%. In general, the temperature of the PCM integrated into the PV/T system should not be too high.

A Review of Heat Batteries Based PV Module Cooling—Case Studies on Performance Enhancement of Large-Scale Solar PV System

“…However, this artificial supercooling effect can be rectified by increasing the K PCM . Notably, this artificial supercooling effect is less in composite PCM and thermal collector-based PCM incorporation with the module [116,117,119].…”

Experimental Study on Energy Efficiency of Multi-Functional BIPV Glazed Façade Structure during Heating Season

“…Relative low efficiency of solar energy utilization with PV cells can be improved by solar concentrators or tracking devices, although in case of BIPV applications, it is more convenient to upgrade PV modules to combine power and heat generators to so called photovoltaic thermal building structures (BIPV/T). The liquid heat transfer media can be used to supply the heat to the buildings [4,5], although preheating of ventilation air for building ventilation is a better option because such applications operate as a low exergy system [6]. In [7] opaque PV modules are cooled by air flowing through the forced ventilated air gap and authors report that the overall energy efficiency during the winter months was in the range between 48% to 52% on the monthly basis.…”