Phase Change Materials in Photovoltaics: The Assessment of System Performance in the Present Mediterranean Climate Conditions

Savvakis, Nikolaos; Tsoutsos, Theocharis

doi:10.22618/tp.ei.20163.389019

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…To address this issue and achieve a uniform temperature distribution, four different PCM container geometries were considered, as shown in Figure 2. To validate the model, measured solar radiation and ambient temperature data from a study conducted by Savvakis et al [34] was used as input, and the predicted outputs power was compared to the measured value. The PV module orientation was considered as follows: 30 • from horizontal with an azimuth angle of 0 • , which were the experimental work conditions; the average ambient temperature for the selected day was approximately 30 • C. Therefore, three different PCMs with higher, similar, and lower melting temperatures (RT42, RT31, and RT25) were selected to determine the relationship between the location average ambient temperature and the PCM phase change temperature.…”

Section: System Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The data from the PCM supplier shows that approximately 90% of the phase change occurs within a temperature range of 5 • C, as shown in Figure 3 [35]. Thus, a narrow temperature range has been used for the PCM simulation; this was partially done to reduce the computational time [32,34,36,37].…”

Section: System Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fraction of the incident solar radiation that passes through the top glass layer and absorbed by the PV cells can be found in Equation (1) which considers the reflectivity of the PV module and the solar radiation losses [34].…”

Section: Pv/pcm System Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of New PCM/PV Configurations for Electrical Energy Efficiency Improvement through Thermal Management of PV Systems

et al. 2021

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Photovoltaic modules during sunny days can reach temperatures 35 °C above the ambient temperature, which strongly influences their performance and electrical efficiency as power losses can be up to −0.65%/°C. To minimize and control the PV panel temperature, the scientific community has proposed different strategies and innovative approaches, one of them through passive cooling with phase change materials (PCM). However, further investigation, including the effects of geometric shape, insulation, phase change temperature, ambient temperature, and solar radiation on the PV module power output and efficiency, needs further optimization and research. Therefore, the current work aims to investigate several system configurations and different PCMs (RT42, RT31, and RT25) and compare the system with and without insulation through computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tools. The final goal is to optimise and control the temperature of PV modules and evaluate their system efficiency and energy generation. The results showed that compared with a rectangular shape of the PCM container, the trapezoid-one exhibits a considerably better cooling performance with a negligible variation of the PV temperature, even when the melting temperature of the PCM was lower than the average ambient temperature. Moreover, the study showed that having insulation in the PCM container increases the amount of PCM needed, compared with no insulation case, and the increased amount depends on the PCM type. The newly proposed PV/PCM system configuration shows an efficiency and power generation enhancement of 17% and 14.6%, respectively, at peak times.

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Section: System Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: System Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of New PCM/PV Configurations for Electrical Energy Efficiency Improvement through Thermal Management of PV Systems

et al. 2021

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“…Elarga et al [16] have developed a physical model to study the incorporation of an PCM layer on a double-facade of PV panel for three different climates, they have found that this technique can improve the conversion of solar energy into electricity independently of the climate, they concluded that the use of PCM can also increase the cooling of the building more than 20% per month. An experimental study was carried out by Nikolaos S et al [17] to evaluate the efficacy of PCM to mitigate the influence of temperature on photovoltaic module performance. The PV/PCM system was tested under Mediterranean climatic conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Performances Study of Curved Photovoltaic Panel Integrated with Phase Change Material

Benlekkam

Nehari²,

Madani

2018

Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering

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The temperature rise of photovoltaic’s cells deteriorates its conversion efficiency. The use of a phase change material (PCM) layer linked to a curved photovoltaic PV panel so-called PV-mirror to control its temperature elevation has been numerically studied. This numerical study was carried out to explore the effect of inner fins length on the thermal and electrical improvement of curved PV panel. So a numerical model of heat transfer with solid-liquid phase change has been developed to solve the Navier–Stokes and energy equations. The predicted results are validated with an available experimental and numerical data. Results shows that the use of fins improve the thermal load distribution presented on the upper front of PV/PCM system and maintained it under 42°C compared with another without fins and enhance the PV cells efficiency by more than 2%.

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“…Elarga et al [18] have developed a physical model to study the incorporation of an PCM layer on a double-facade of PV panel for three different climates, they have found that this technique can improve the conversion of solar energy into electricity independently of the climate, they concluded that the use of PCM can also increase the cooling of the building more than 20% per month. An experimental study was carried out by Nikolaos S et al [19] to evaluate the efficacy of PCM to mitigate the influence of temperature on photovoltaic module performance. The PV/PCM system was tested under Mediterranean climatic conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The thermal impact of the fin tilt angle and its orientation on performance of PV cell using PCM

Benlekkam¹,

Nehari²,

Madani³

2018

IJHT

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The temperature rises of photovoltaic's cells (PV) affects its conversion efficiency. However the use of phase change material (PCM) "RT25" layer with horizontal inner fins linked to PV panel can maintain its temperature. A numerical study of a novel proposed configuration is performed; aiming to understand the effect of fins tilt angle and its orientation on thermal regulation enhancement of PV cells. The computations are based on an iterative, finite-volume numerical procedure that incorporates an enthalpy formulation for simulation of the phase change phenomenon. The comparison between the numerical predictions and numerical and experimental data from literature shows a good agreement. This study is also carried out for various tilt angles in the range of 0° to 45° in an interval of 5° and orientation of internal fins converged or diverged. Results indicate that the fins tilt angle (α=25°) can maintain the PV cell efficiency at 14% with an average temperature of 34,5°C for 3 hours, compared with PV/PCM system with horizontal fins (α=0°) which its efficiency decrease to 12.5% from its maximal value (15%) with an average temperature of 38°C.

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Phase Change Materials in Photovoltaics: The Assessment of System Performance in the Present Mediterranean Climate Conditions

Cited by 7 publications

References 10 publications

Evaluation of New PCM/PV Configurations for Electrical Energy Efficiency Improvement through Thermal Management of PV Systems

Evaluation of New PCM/PV Configurations for Electrical Energy Efficiency Improvement through Thermal Management of PV Systems

Numerical Performances Study of Curved Photovoltaic Panel Integrated with Phase Change Material

The thermal impact of the fin tilt angle and its orientation on performance of PV cell using PCM

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