Comparative analysis of switchable natural cooling methods for efficient thermal management in photovoltaic/thermal collectors

Siyan Chan, Ken Chen, Kongfu Hu, Lingfeng Shi, Yu Pei, Bin Zhao and Gang Pei

Applied Energy, 2025, vol. 385, issue C, No S0306261925002296

Abstract: Photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) collectors can produce heat and electricity simultaneously, but the overheating phenomenon also occurs on hot days, significantly compromising their performance and lifetime. To address this issue, this study suggests incorporating switchable heat dissipation modes into conventional PV/T collectors to enhance thermal management ability. Such an approach allows for efficient heat collection when the thermal demand is high and timely heat dissipation during periods of low heat demand. In this paper, four types of PV/T collectors with different switchable heat dissipation configurations are introduced and analysed using validated two-dimensional steady-state mathematical models. The results demonstrate that, under a typical summer day in Hefei, the four switchable cooling modes can dramatically drop the stagnation temperature, ranging from 26.2 °C to 46.6 °C, thereby improving electrical efficiency by 2.22 % to 3.94 %. In addition, the regulation and cooling effect of the PV/T collector becomes more obvious as the ambient temperature increases and the solar irradiation becomes stronger. To illustrate performance differences, energy flow diagrams of each PV/T collector in heat dissipation modes are established, highlighting variations in solar energy conversion and heat dissipation effects. These findings provide critical insights for the future design of PV/T collectors with multi-mode operation and enhanced overheating protection functions.

Keywords: Photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T); Solar energy; Thermal regulation; Convection heat loss; Heat dissipation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261925002296
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:appene:v:385:y:2025:i:c:s0306261925002296

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125499

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

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