Experimental study and numerical validation on the effect of inclination angle to the thermal performance of solar heat pipe photovoltaic/thermal system

Tao Zhang, Wenjie Zheng, Liuya Wang, Zhiwei Yan and Mingke Hu

Energy, 2021, vol. 223, issue C

Abstract: Effect of inclination angle to the thermal performance of a heat pipe photovoltaic/thermal system (HP-PV/T) system was rarely reported. In the present study, a HP-PV/T system was firstly constructed in an Enthalpy Difference Laboratory, where inclination angle was experimentally managed as the only variable. Meanwhile, a comprehensive numerical model for the HP-PV/T system was developed to validate the experiments. Particularly, a 3D model for the inclined heat pipe was also firstly involved. The simulation results show that liquid film thickness within the condenser or the evaporator stabilizes at a constant value at inclining condition. The relative filmwise thermal resistance of the condenser decreases first and then increases with inclination angle; while the evaporator shows an opposite trend to the condenser. The overall thermal resistance of solar heat pipe is mainly determined by the evaporator while the evaporator is mainly determined by the effective height of the liquid pool. The experimental and simulation results both indicate that the optimum inclination angle is 40°. The proposed model agrees well with the experimental results at big inclination angles (≥20°), it is practicable to reveal the influence of inclination angle to the thermal performance of a HP-PV/T system.

Keywords: Heat pipe photovoltaic/thermal; Inclination angle; 3D model; Experimental study; Numerical validation; Enthalpy difference laboratory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544221002693
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:223:y:2021:i:c:s0360544221002693

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.120020

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().