Experimental and Theoretical Modelling of Concentrating Photovoltaic Thermal System with Ge-Based Multi-Junction Solar Cells

Rida Ali Hmouda, Yuri S. Muzychka and Xili Duan
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Rida Ali Hmouda: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), St. John’s, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Yuri S. Muzychka: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), St. John’s, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Xili Duan: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), St. John’s, NL A1B 3X5, Canada

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-21

Abstract: Climate change is one of the biggest environmental, political, economic, technological, and social challenges of the 21st century. Due to ever-increasing fossil fuels costs. The world energy system should be transitioned to renewable energy sources to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Solar energy is one of the suitable alternatives to fossil fuel usage. Currently, the most widely available solar technologies are solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal. The integration of these two techniques enables the exploitation of the most significant amount of solar radiation. This combination has led to a hybrid photovoltaic/thermal system (PV/T). Concentrated solar radiation on PV cells, known as concentrated photovoltaic (CPV), effectively decreases PV receivers’ area and harnesses the same quantity of solar radiation. However, the main problem with CPV is the elevated PV surface temperature, which often requires active cooling. This issue can be solved by introducing a Concentrating Photovoltaic Thermal (CPVT) system. In this article, a new CPVT hybrid system based on Point Focus Fresnel Lens (PFFL) and embedded Multi Junction Photovoltaic (MJPV) (GaInP/InGaAs/Ge) cells has been experimentally investigated and numerically modelled under indoor conditions. Experiments and simulations were carried out at different heat transfer fluid (HTF) flow rates and under constant irradiation emitted from a sun simulator. The results indicate that the thermal and electrical performance of the CPVT system improves under the testing conditions, where the total efficiency was 68.7% and 73.5% for the experimental and CFD models, respectively. At the same time, the highest thermal efficiency of the experimental and CFD models was 49.5% and 55.4%, respectively. In contrast, the highest electrical efficiency was 36.5% and 37.1%. Therefore, the CPVT system has an excellent possibility of being competitive with conventional power generation systems.

Keywords: hybrid concentrating photovoltaic/thermal system CPVT; multi-junction photovoltaic; point focus Fresnel lens; heat sink (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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