THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

Wenping Du

,

Rui Wang

,

Chong Zhao

,

Yunfeng Wang

,

Ming Li

THERMAL DESIGN OF A PLATE RECEIVER FOR COOLING DENSELY PACKED PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS WITH A POINT FOCUSING SOLAR CONCENTRATOR

ABSTRACT
The viability of a plate receiver for an array of densely packed photovoltaic cells with a point focusing solar concentrator has been investigated. A cooling receiver being similar to a multi-channel receiver was designed and a thermal resistance model was developed to optimize the geometric parameters. Furthermore, the simulation results found that when the receiver fin height, channel width, and width of the fin wall is 15, 1, and 5.8 mm, respectively, the total ther- mal resistance could be less than 4 cm2°C/W under a constant volumetric flow rate of 0.1 L/s. A physical prototype has been built according to the simulation results. A performance test has been conducted to investigate the temperature distribution and the thermal performance. The experimental results reveal that the new design of the plate receiver has a desirable working performance and it is acceptable for the cooling application of photovoltaic cells which expose to high heat fluxes.
KEYWORDS
solar concentrator, plate receiver, cooling photovoltaic cells, total thermal resistance
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2017-10-10
PAPER REVISED: 2017-11-26
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2017-11-26
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2017-12-23
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI171010259D
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2018, VOLUME 22, ISSUE Supplement 2, PAGES [S469 - S479]
REFERENCES
  1. Makki, A., et al., Advancements in hybrid photovoltaic systems for enhanced solar cells performance, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 41 (2015) 658-684. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2014.08.069.
  2. Nižetić, S., et al., Comprehensive analysis and general economic-environmental evaluation of cooling techniques for photovoltaic panels, Part I: Passive cooling techniques, Energy Convers. Manag. 149 (2017) 334-354. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2017.07.022.
  3. Barrau, J., et al., Outdoor test of a hybrid jet impingement/micro-channel cooling device for densely packed concentrated photovoltaic cells, Sol. Energy. 107 (2014) 113-121.
  4. Ji, J., et al., a Jet Impingement/Channel Receiver for Cooling Densely Packed Photovoltaic Cells Under a Paraboloidal Dish Solar Concentrator, Heat Transf. Res. 43 (2012) 767-778.
  5. Bahaidarah, H.M.S., et al., Uniform cooling of photovoltaic panels: A review, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 57 (2016) 1520-1544. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.064.
  6. Helmers, H., Kramer, K., Multi-linear performance model for hybrid (C)PVT solar collectors, Sol. Energy. 92 (2013) 313-322. doi:10.1016/j.solener.2013.03.003.
  7. Grove, M., Cooling circuit for receiver of solar radiation, 2010. doi:10.1016/j.(73).
  8. Mohammed Adham, A., et al., Thermal and hydrodynamic analysis of microchannel heat sinks: A review, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 21 (2013) 614-622. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2013.01.022.
  9. Li, P., et al., Flow structure and heat transfer of non-Newtonian fluids in microchannel heat sinks with dimples and protrusions, Appl. Therm. Eng. 94 (2016) 50-58.
  10. Xia, G.D., et al., Effects of different geometric structures on fluid flow and heat transfer performance in microchannel heat sinks, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 80 (2015) 439-447.
  11. Alfaryjat, A.A., et al., Influence of geometrical parameters of hexagonal, circular, and rhombus microchannel heat sinks on the thermohydraulic characteristics, Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transf. 52 (2014) 121-131. doi:10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2014.01.015.
  12. Ebrahimi, A., et al., Numerical study of liquid flow and heat transfer in rectangular microchannel with longitudinal vortex generators, Appl. Therm. Eng. 78 (2015) 576-583.
  13. Stanley, C., et al., Performance testing of a spectral beam splitting hybrid PVT solar receiver for linear concentrators, Appl. Energy. 168 (2016) 303-313.
  14. Chaabane, M., et al., Performance optimization of water-cooled concentrated photovoltaic system, Heat Transf. Eng. 37 (2016) 76-81. doi:10.1080/01457632.2015.1042344.
  15. Sharaf, O.Z., Orhann, M.F., Concentrated photovoltaic thermal (CPVT) solar collector systems: Part II - Implemented systems, performance assessment, and future directions, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 50 (2015) 1566-1633. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.215.
  16. Kumar, A., et al., Historical and recent development of photovoltaic thermal (PVT) technologies, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 42 (2015) 1428-1436.
  17. Smith, M.K., et al., Water Cooling Method to Improve the Performance of Field-Mounted, Insulated, and Concentrating Photovoltaic Modules, J. Sol. Energy Eng. 136 (2014) 34503.
  18. Xu, S., et al., A multi-channel cooling system for multiple heat source, Therm. Sci. 2014 (2014) 1991-2000. doi:10.2298/TSCI140313123X.
  19. Zhimin, W., et al., The Optimum Thermal Design of Microchannel Heat Sinks Wen, Electron. Packag. Technol. Conf. 1997. Proc. 1997 1st. (1997) 123-129.
  20. Phillips, R., Microchannel Heat Sinks, Lincoln Lab. J. 1 (1988) 31-48.
  21. Nishioka, K., et al., Annual output estimation of concentrator photovoltaic systems using high-efficiency InGaP/InGaAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells based on experimental solar cell's characteristics and field-test meteorological data, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells. 90 (2006) 57-67.
  22. Jaramillo, O.A., et al., A flat-plate calorimeter for concentrated solar flux evaluation, Renew. Energy. 33 (2008) 2322-2328.
PDF VERSION [DOWNLOAD]
Thermal design of a plate receiver for cooling densely packed photovoltaic cells with a point focusing solar concentrator

© 2024 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence