Thermal Performance of Finned Heat Sinks Embedded with Form-Stable Myristic Acid Phase Change Material in Photovoltaic Cooling for Green Energy Storage

Yamuna Munusamy, John Wong Lin Onn, Mohammed Alquraish, Mohamed Kchaou and Sumathi Sethupathi
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Yamuna Munusamy: Department of Petrochemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Petaling Jaya 31900, Malaysia
John Wong Lin Onn: Department of Petrochemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Petaling Jaya 31900, Malaysia
Mohammed Alquraish: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Bisha, P.O. Box 001, Bisha 67714, Saudi Arabia
Mohamed Kchaou: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Bisha, P.O. Box 001, Bisha 67714, Saudi Arabia
Sumathi Sethupathi: Department of Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar 31900, Perak, Malaysia

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-14

Abstract: Photovoltaic (PV) panels must be equipped with a cooling system to increase their electrical output generation. Despite numerous publications on the fabrication of form-stable phase change material (FSPCM) for thermal energy storage application, studies on the usage of FSPCM for PV cooling are incredibly limited. In this work, the cooling performance of myristic acid FSPCM encapsulated with cross-linked nitrile rubber (NBR) was investigated. A fin heat sink (FHS) was employed to hold the FSPCM. The thermal performance of the FHS embedded with FSPCM (FHS-FSPCM) was preliminarily tested in an indoor setup. Results show that the FHS-FSPCM has a lower temperature distribution curve than the bare FHS, highlighting the increase in cooling capability of fabricated FSPCM. Field-testing of PV panels integrated with an FHS-FSPCM displayed that FSPCM manages to reduce the operating temperature of the panel by 4 to 15 °C and increase power output generation by 38.61%.

Keywords: thermal energy; storage; FHS-FSPCM; performance; power increasing; innovative technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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