Energy and exergy analysis of a switchable solar photovoltaic/thermal-phase change material system with thermal regulation strategies

Chenyu Zhang, Ning Wang, Qiguo Yang, Hongtao Xu, Zhiguo Qu and Yuan Fang

Renewable Energy, 2022, vol. 196, issue C, 1392-1405

Abstract: The overheated photovoltaic (PV) panels during the late experimental period and severe temperature stratification of the phase change materials (PCMs) are critical factors influencing the photovoltaic/thermal-PCM system efficiency. In this work, an outdoor experimental switchable PV/T-PCM system coupled with copper fins and flexible thermal regulation strategies was investigated to maximize the energy conversion efficiency. The effect of different fin heights on the efficiency of the PV-PCM system without water flow was firstly investigated. Second, five cases under various thermal regulation strategies utilizing water flow were comprehensively investigated by the energy and exergy analysis. For the full-time regulation, both thermal energy and exergy efficiencies (ηth and Ex_th) increased when the water flow rate grew from 0.11 L/min (Case 2) to 2.92 L/min (Case 5). Case 5 presented the highest ηth and Ex_th of 86.49% and 2.06%, respectively, and increments of 4.40% and 4.35% in the electrical energy and exergy efficiencies, respectively, with the addition of PCMs. At the same water flow rate of 0.11 L/min, the electrical energy and exergy efficiencies in Case 6 increased by 11.46% and 11.35%, compared with Case 2, indicating that the intermittent regulation is more beneficial for improving the photoelectric efficiency of the PV/T-PCM system.

Keywords: Phase change material; Photovoltaic/thermal system; Thermal regulation strategy; Energy and exergy analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148122010837
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:renene:v:196:y:2022:i:c:p:1392-1405

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.07.081

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

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