Coupled simulation of performance of a crossed compound parabolic concentrator with solar cell

Li, Wenguang; Paul, Manosh C; Sellami, Nazmi; Meng, Xian-long; Mallick, Tapas K; Fernandez, Eduardo Fernandez; Knox, Andrew R; Montecucco, Andrea; Siviter, Jonathan; Mullen, Paul; et al

Abstract

An optimal installation of a compound parabolic concentrator (CCPC) into a scalable solar thermoelectrics and photovoltaics system is desirable by applying analytical tools to improve the optical and thermal performance of a CCPC with a solar cell. In this paper, the optical and thermal performances of an isolated CCPC with solar cell are investigated by employing commercial software ‘ANSYS CFX 15.0’ with a coupled optical grey and multiphysics model. Numerical results are validated against the experimental data at various incidence angles, especially for the optical concentration ratio and optical efficiency. Results confirm that ‘ANSYS CFX’ is an effective numerical tool for determining correctly both the optical and thermal behaviour of CCPC. The very important finding is a highest temperature core in the silicon layer of solar cell which may be responsible for a solar cell to work properly. The limitation of the work is that the electric performance of the solar cell is not involved and the simulations are steady.

Citation

Li, W., Paul, M. C., Sellami, N., Meng, X.-L., Mallick, T. K., Fernandez, E. F., Knox, A. R., Montecucco, A., Siviter, J., Mullen, P., & et al. (2015, March). Coupled simulation of performance of a crossed compound parabolic concentrator with solar cell. Presented at The 7th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2015), Abu Dhabi, UAE

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: The 7th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2015)
• Start Date: Mar 28, 2015
• End Date: Mar 31, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Aug 28, 2015
• Publication Date: 2015-08
• Deposit Date: Dec 12, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 13, 2021
• Journal: Energy Procedia
• Print ISSN: 1876-6102
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 75
• Pages: 325-330
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2015.07.371
• Keywords: crossed compound parabolic concentrator, solar cell, thermal performance, sunlight radiation, heat transfer, heat flux
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2818393