Energy and exergy analyses of new cooling schemes based on a serpentine configuration for a high concentrator photovoltaic system

Ahmed, Asmaa; Shanks, Katie; Sundaram, Senthilarasu; Mallick, Tapas

Abstract

High concentrator photovoltaic is expected to play an increasingly important role in electrical energy production. Controlling multijunction solar cell temperature within the recommended conditions is a key challenge that limits the functionality of this growing technology making the identification of an efficient cooling method an essential requirement. Hence, in this research, new heat sink configurations based on a serpentine design are studied and compared with the straight channel arrangement. To assess the performance of the high concentrator photovoltaic, a 3D model is built for the multijunction cell and heat sink and impact of the heat sink configuration, mass flow rate, and concentration ratio are investigated. The results include solar cell temperature distribution, thermal resistance, pumping power, thermal and electrical energy and exergy efficiencies. The study shows that the straight channel is not recommended for concentration above 1000x, whereas the centre inlet serpentine design can maintain a uniform temperature distribution for the system for concentration up to 2000x. Temperature non-uniformity varies between 18 °C and 5 °C. The highest overall energy and exergy efficiencies reached 78% and 35.2% respectively at concentration of 2000x. The results prove the effectiveness of implementing a serpentine design as a new cooling scheme for the system.

Citation

Ahmed, A., Shanks, K., Sundaram, S., & Mallick, T. (2021). Energy and exergy analyses of new cooling schemes based on a serpentine configuration for a high concentrator photovoltaic system. Applied Thermal Engineering, 199, Article 117528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2021.117528

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 31, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Sep 11, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-11
• Deposit Date: Mar 11, 2023
• Journal: Applied Thermal Engineering
• Print ISSN: 1359-4311
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 199
• Article Number: 117528
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2021.117528