Srinivasa K Reddy

In photovoltaic (PV) cells, a large portion of the solar-irradiance becomes heat which shoots the cell temperature up and decreases its electrical efficiency. The heat can be removed using phase-change-material (PCM) at the rear of the PV. In literature, the researchers have reported the performance of PV-PCM for their respective locations. However, selection criteria for climates suitable for PCM integration are not reported yet. Thus, it has been carried out in the current work. The model has been validated against the experimental measurements. It has been concluded that (i) the climates having less variations in the ambient temperature are more suitable for PCM integration. The electricity enhancement achieved by PV cooling is 9.7%. It reduces to 6.6% for the climate having large variations, (ii) Heat extraction by PCM-systems is more effective in warm climates in comparison to cold climates, (iii) PCM integration performs better in climates with low wind-speed, (iv) PCM is more effective for the climates where wind-flow is across the PV and (v) Climates having high solar-radiation is better for heat removal by PCM.

The present work aims at the optimization of fins fitted phase change material equipped photovoltaic system under different working circumstances for proper power enhancement. Setup has been modelled and the best deepness of fins fitted phase change material enclosure has been computed for a range of daily collective solar flux at photovoltaic panel surface, wind pace, wind azimuth, surroundings temperature, melting point, successive fins distance, fins deepness and fins width in order to analyse the influence of working circumstances. It is shown that the change in wind pace from 0.2 m/s to 6 m/s results in reduction of best deepness of phase change material enclosure from 5.2 cm to 3.7 cm, 5.6 cm to 4.0 cm, 5.8 cm to 4.2 cm, 5.9 cm to 4.3 cm and 5.9 cm to 4.3 cm for successive fins distance of 1 m, 1/2 m, 1/3 m, 1/4 m and 1/5 m respectively for daily collective solar flux at photovoltaic panel as 5000Wh/m2. The change in wind azimuth from 0° to 75° results in increment in the best deepness of enclosure from 3.9 cm to 4.8 cm, 4.3 cm to 5.2 cm, 4.5 cm to 5.4 cm, 4.6 cm to 5.5 cm and 4.6 cm to 5.5 cm for respective fins distances. The power production is increased from 125 W/m2 to 137 W/m2, 140 W/m2, 142 W/m2, 143 W/m2 and 143 W/m2 with fins width of 0 mm, 0.5 mm, 1 mm, 2 mm and 4 mm respectively.