Prediction of Performance of a Novel Concept of Solar Photovoltaic-Thermal Panel and Heat Pipe Hybrid System

Abstract

A numerical model to predict the behavior of a novel concept of a hybrid system composed of photovoltaic-thermal solar panel and heat pipe is presented hereby. This model has been developed to assess the performance, and energy conversion process of the hybrid system as well as the individual efficiencies of this process to produce hot water and electricity. The two-dimensional heat transfer and fluid flow dynamic model was developed to describe the behavior of a hybrid system under different conditions, namely; solar irradiance, heat pipe conditions and different refrigerants. The model is based upon the dynamic mass and energy equations coupled with the heat transfer formulas, and thermodynamic properties of refrigerants as well as thermal material properties of the PV solar panel and heat pipes. Finally, the model's prediction has been validated and fairly compared with available experimental data.

Study of the Impact of PV-Thermal and Nanofluids on the Desalination Process by Flashing

“…The solar photovoltaic panel is composed of various modules and each module consists of arrays and cells. The dynamic current output can be obtained as follows [14][15][16][17]:…”

“…The different equations reported in [16][17][18] were used to calculate the thermophysical properties of the nanofluids, such as the specific heat, thermal conductivity, viscosity and density using the law of mixtures. The thermophysical, thermodynamic and heat transfer properties of nanofluids are determined in terms of the volumetric concentration of the nano particles as per the following equation: (12) where α represents the thermophysical property of a particular nanofluid.…”

“…where Φ represents the nano particles volumetric concentration. The thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity and density of the nanofluids are related as follows [16][17][18]:…”

“…where C p is the specific heat, α is the thermal diffusivity, λ and δ represent the thermal conductivity and density, respectively. Readers interested in further details on the calculations of the nanofluids thermophysical and thermodynamic properties are advised to consult references [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. In particular, these references discussed the impact of the nanofluid concentrations on the thermophysical properties of the nanofluids used in this study.…”

“…The overall performance of the combined system was determined in terms of gained output ratio, referred to as GOR. The conceptual design for a photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) solar panel has been developed and analyzed to control the inherent temperature increase of PV cells in order to increase electrical efficiency [14][15][16][17]. A hybrid solar panel was developed and presented by Yang et al [1] and Sami [16,17] to integrate photovoltaic (PV) cells onto a substrate through a functionally graded material (FGM) with water tubes cast inside, through which water serves as both heat sink and solar heat collector.…”