Structure parameter analysis and optimization of photovoltaic-phase change material-thermoelectric coupling system under space conditions

Y. He, Y.B. Tao, C.Y. Zhao and X.K. Yu

Renewable Energy, 2022, vol. 200, issue C, 320-333

Abstract: Phase change material (PCM) as highly efficient temperature control material has been used in terrestrial photovoltaic-thermoelectric (PV-TE) coupling system to achieve higher power generation efficiency. However, the mass increase results from addition of PCM limits its application in space system. In present paper, a two-dimensional model for PV-PCM-TE coupling system was developed to investigate the energy transfer and conversion performance under space conditions. Firstly, the suitable PCM was selected, both the pure PCM and its metal foam composite PCM (MFCPCM) are used. Then, performance comparison for PV-TE, PV-PCM-TE and PV-MFCPCM-TE systems were performed. The results show PCM can significantly enhance the total efficiency, but causes power density dramatically decreasing. The average total efficiencies for PV-TE, PV-PCM-TE and PV-MFCPCM-TE are 29.50%, 30.50% and 30.61%, and the corresponding average power density are 30.34 W/kg, 22.39 W/kg and 21.20 W/kg, respectively. After that, an orthogonal experiment was designed to reveal the effects of structure parameters on power generation efficiency and power density of PV-MFCPCM-TE system. The optimum geometric parameters to achieve the best power generation efficiency and power density were derived. The results show that after optimization, the average total efficiency and power density of PV-MFCPCM-TE are 30.83% and 31.35 W/kg, both of them are higher than those of the traditional PV-TE system (29.50% and 30.34 W/kg). The present work is beneficial for the application of PV-PCM-TE system in space conditions.

Keywords: Photovoltaic-thermoelectric; Phase change materials; Power generation efficiency; Power density; Performance optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148122014896
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:200:y:2022:i:c:p:320-333

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.09.129

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 ().