CFD analysis of a one-pass photovoltaic/thermal air system with and without offset strip fins

Moustafa Al-Damook; Darron Dixon-Hardy; Peter J. Heggs; Mansour Al Qubeissi; Khaled Al-Ghaithi; Patrick E.  Mason; Joshua Cottom

doi:10.1051/matecconf/201824003002

CFD analysis of a one-pass photovoltaic/thermal air system with and without offset strip fins

Moustafa Al-Damook, Darron Dixon-Hardy, Peter J. Heggs, Mansour Al Qubeissi, Khaled Al-Ghaithi, Patrick E. Mason, Joshua Cottom

University of Leeds

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

65 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The focus on managing PV panel temperature has undergone a remarkable development in the last two decades. Specifically, in countries with moderate weather temperature and high insolation, the problem of keeping the PV cell temperature in an optimal range has been managed by use of PV/T collectors. In this work, a single pass PV/T collector using laminar air flow has been assessed. Two PV/T collector designs are utilised, one with and one without offset strip fins. COMSOL Multiphysics v5.3a has been used for the analysis of the thermal and electrical performances. Two assumptions were implemented in order to reduce the computational time from 95 hours to 7 hours, namely ignoring radiative effects between the fins and the wall channels, and representing thin layers as 2D boundaries, whilst ensuring a high level of conformity (4%),. Monocrystalline silicon PV cells were used with a power temperature coefficient of 0.41%. A validation against work in the literature was made, showing a good consistency. The objective of this work is to verify the performance of the air PV/T collector with offset strip fins compared to an unfinned air PV/T collector. The results reveal that the use of offset strip fins has a noticeable impact on both the electrical and thermal efficiencies of the system. In addition, the maximum combined efficiency (ηCo) for the finned PV/T system is 84.7% while the unfinned PV/T system is 51.2%.

Original language	English
Article number	03002
Number of pages	5
Journal	MATEC Web of Conferences
Volume	240
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201824003002
Publication status	Published - 27 Nov 2018
Event	XI International Conference on Computational Heat, Mass and Momentum Transfer: ICCHMT2018 - Krakow, Poland Duration: 21 May 2018 → 24 May 2018

Bibliographical note

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.

Keywords

Photovoltaic
Photovoltaic applications
Solar
Renewable energy
heat transfer
Heat Exchanger
Conjugate Heat transfer

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Engineering
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Mechanical Engineering

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1051/matecconf/201824003002Licence: CC BY

PublishedFinal published version, 1.67 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "CFD analysis of a one-pass photovoltaic/thermal air system with and without offset strip fins",

abstract = "The focus on managing PV panel temperature has undergone a remarkable development in the last two decades. Specifically, in countries with moderate weather temperature and high insolation, the problem of keeping the PV cell temperature in an optimal range has been managed by use of PV/T collectors. In this work, a single pass PV/T collector using laminar air flow has been assessed. Two PV/T collector designs are utilised, one with and one without offset strip fins. COMSOL Multiphysics v5.3a has been used for the analysis of the thermal and electrical performances. Two assumptions were implemented in order to reduce the computational time from 95 hours to 7 hours, namely ignoring radiative effects between the fins and the wall channels, and representing thin layers as 2D boundaries, whilst ensuring a high level of conformity (4%),. Monocrystalline silicon PV cells were used with a power temperature coefficient of 0.41%. A validation against work in the literature was made, showing a good consistency. The objective of this work is to verify the performance of the air PV/T collector with offset strip fins compared to an unfinned air PV/T collector. The results reveal that the use of offset strip fins has a noticeable impact on both the electrical and thermal efficiencies of the system. In addition, the maximum combined efficiency (ηCo) for the finned PV/T system is 84.7% while the unfinned PV/T system is 51.2%.",

keywords = "Photovoltaic, Photovoltaic applications, Solar, Renewable energy, heat transfer, Heat Exchanger, Conjugate Heat transfer",

author = "Moustafa Al-Damook and Darron Dixon-Hardy and Heggs, {Peter J.} and {Al Qubeissi}, Mansour and Khaled Al-Ghaithi and Mason, {Patrick E.} and Joshua Cottom",

note = "This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Copyright {\textcopyright} and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.; XI International Conference on Computational Heat, Mass and Momentum Transfer : ICCHMT2018 ; Conference date: 21-05-2018 Through 24-05-2018",

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doi = "10.1051/matecconf/201824003002",

language = "English",

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T1 - CFD analysis of a one-pass photovoltaic/thermal air system with and without offset strip fins

AU - Al-Damook, Moustafa

AU - Dixon-Hardy, Darron

AU - Heggs, Peter J.

AU - Al Qubeissi, Mansour

AU - Al-Ghaithi, Khaled

AU - Mason, Patrick E.

AU - Cottom, Joshua

N1 - This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.

PY - 2018/11/27

Y1 - 2018/11/27

N2 - The focus on managing PV panel temperature has undergone a remarkable development in the last two decades. Specifically, in countries with moderate weather temperature and high insolation, the problem of keeping the PV cell temperature in an optimal range has been managed by use of PV/T collectors. In this work, a single pass PV/T collector using laminar air flow has been assessed. Two PV/T collector designs are utilised, one with and one without offset strip fins. COMSOL Multiphysics v5.3a has been used for the analysis of the thermal and electrical performances. Two assumptions were implemented in order to reduce the computational time from 95 hours to 7 hours, namely ignoring radiative effects between the fins and the wall channels, and representing thin layers as 2D boundaries, whilst ensuring a high level of conformity (4%),. Monocrystalline silicon PV cells were used with a power temperature coefficient of 0.41%. A validation against work in the literature was made, showing a good consistency. The objective of this work is to verify the performance of the air PV/T collector with offset strip fins compared to an unfinned air PV/T collector. The results reveal that the use of offset strip fins has a noticeable impact on both the electrical and thermal efficiencies of the system. In addition, the maximum combined efficiency (ηCo) for the finned PV/T system is 84.7% while the unfinned PV/T system is 51.2%.

AB - The focus on managing PV panel temperature has undergone a remarkable development in the last two decades. Specifically, in countries with moderate weather temperature and high insolation, the problem of keeping the PV cell temperature in an optimal range has been managed by use of PV/T collectors. In this work, a single pass PV/T collector using laminar air flow has been assessed. Two PV/T collector designs are utilised, one with and one without offset strip fins. COMSOL Multiphysics v5.3a has been used for the analysis of the thermal and electrical performances. Two assumptions were implemented in order to reduce the computational time from 95 hours to 7 hours, namely ignoring radiative effects between the fins and the wall channels, and representing thin layers as 2D boundaries, whilst ensuring a high level of conformity (4%),. Monocrystalline silicon PV cells were used with a power temperature coefficient of 0.41%. A validation against work in the literature was made, showing a good consistency. The objective of this work is to verify the performance of the air PV/T collector with offset strip fins compared to an unfinned air PV/T collector. The results reveal that the use of offset strip fins has a noticeable impact on both the electrical and thermal efficiencies of the system. In addition, the maximum combined efficiency (ηCo) for the finned PV/T system is 84.7% while the unfinned PV/T system is 51.2%.

KW - Photovoltaic

KW - Photovoltaic applications

KW - Solar

KW - Renewable energy

KW - heat transfer

KW - Heat Exchanger

KW - Conjugate Heat transfer

U2 - 10.1051/matecconf/201824003002

DO - 10.1051/matecconf/201824003002

M3 - Conference article

SN - 2261-236X

VL - 240

JO - MATEC Web of Conferences

JF - MATEC Web of Conferences

M1 - 03002

T2 - XI International Conference on Computational Heat, Mass and Momentum Transfer

Y2 - 21 May 2018 through 24 May 2018

ER -

CFD analysis of a one-pass photovoltaic/thermal air system with and without offset strip fins

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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