Abstract
Solar panels are amongst the best systems to benefit of incident solar insolation. One of the main problems with solar panels is efficiency degradation due to temperature rise as a result of accumulated heat. Experimental work, involving solar systems and nanomaterials, is quite expensive due to the start-up cost. This study aims to present a basic numerical modelling method that can simulate both standard test conditions and on-site conditions with variation of meteorological conditions. Two different Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) systems, with different attachment configurations, were modelled using ANSYS FLUENT software to simulate the system thermal performance under both fixed and variable radiation intensities. The simulated nanomaterial were Multi Walls Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT), Alumina (Al2O3) and Boehmite (AlOOH) with water as a base fluid. Furthermore, energy and exergy analysis was developed to calculate the energy and exergy efficiency for standalone (no external power to feed the pump) PV/T system. System sustainable index, exergy destruction cost and entropy generation were also studied for different nanomaterial and different nanofluid concentrations. The numerical study showed a very good prediction -within +/- 1.5o C- compared with experimental data for different system thermal performances under different intensities.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 100931 |
| Journal | Thermal Science and Engineering Progress |
| Volume | 24 |
| Early online date | 20 Apr 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords
- solar panels
- cooling
- nanofluid
- MWCNT
- aluminia
- simulation
Access to Document
- Full-text PDF (author’s accepted manuscript)
This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Elsevier at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsep.2021.100931 . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.