Performance Analysis and Optimization of a Channeled Photovoltaic Thermal System with Fin Absorbers and Combined Bi-Fluid Cooling

Abstract

The conversion efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) cells can be increased by reducing high temperatures with appropriate cooling. Passive cooling systems using air, water, ethylene glycol, and air/water+TiO2 nano bi-fluid froth in the duct channel have been studied, but an overall assessment is essential for its possible application. In the present work, a numerical study is adopted to investigate the impact of the fluid-duct channel type on the electrical and thermal efficiency of the photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collector. Such investigation is achieved by means of a MATLAB R2022b code based on the Runge–Kutta (RK4) method. Four kinds of fluid duct channels are used to optimize the best fluid for improving the overall efficiency of the investigated PVT system. The numerical validation of the proposed model has been made by comparing the numerical and experimental results reported in the literature. The outcomes indicate that varying the duct channel nature affects mainly the electrical and thermal efficiency of the PVT collector. Our results validate that the nature of the fluid affects weakly the electrical efficiency, whereas the thermal efficiency is strongly affected. Accordingly, it is observed that PVT collectors based on nano bi-fluid air/water+TiO2 give the best performance. In this context, an appreciable increase in the overall efficiency of 22% is observed when the water+TiO2 fluid is substituted by air/ water+TiO2 nano bi-fluid. Therefore, these motivating results make the PVT nano bi-fluid efficient and suitable for solar photovoltaic thermal applications since this system exhibits a daily overall efficiency of about 56.96%. The present work proves that controlling the design, cooling technique, and nature of the cooling fluid used is a crucial factor for improving the electrical, thermal, and overall efficiency of the PVT systems.