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Numerical study of the effects of nanofluids and phase-change materials in photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems

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Abstract

In this paper, the effects of pure water, SiO2/water nanofluid, and a phase-change material (PCM) as coolants on the performance of a photovoltaic thermal (PVT) system are numerically investigated. The simulations are performed on two modules of PVT with PCM (PVT/PCM module) and without (PVT module). Parameters including PV surface temperature, thermal, and electrical efficiencies of the systems are studied and compared with each other. Moreover, the results of nanofluid as a working fluid is compared with those obtained using pure water. The results show that in the water-based PVT/PCM, the average PV cell temperature is decreased by 16 °C compared to that of the PVT system. This results in an increase of 8% in the electrical efficiency and 25% in the thermal efficiency. In addition, using nanofluid (SiO2 with 1 and 3 mass% mass fraction) as a coolant in the PVT/PCM system increases the thermal efficiency by 3.51% and 10.40%, for 1 and 3 mass%, respectively, compared to that of the PVT/PCM with pure water as a coolant. This study shows that increasing the melting temperature of the phase-change material leads to an increase in the thermal efficiency of the PVT/PCM system.

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Abbreviations

A :

Area (m2)

\(C_{\text{P}}\) :

Specific heat capacity (J kg−1 K−1)

C :

Mushy zone constant (kg m−3 s−1)

\(d\) :

Diameter (m)

\(\dot{E}\) :

Power (W)

\(\dot{G}\) :

Solar irradiation rate (W m−2)

h :

Specific enthalpy (J kg−1)

\(I\) :

Electrical current (A)

\(k\) :

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

L :

Latent heat (J kg−1)

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg s−1)

\(P\) :

Pressure (Pa)

\(V\) :

Velocity (m s−1)

\(T\) :

Temperature (K)

α :

Absorptivity

\(\beta\) :

Liquid fraction

\(\varepsilon\) :

Numerical value

\(\eta\) :

Energy efficiency (%)

\(\kappa_{\text{B}}\) :

Boltzmann constant

\(\mu\) :

Dynamic viscosity (kg m−1 s−1)

\(\phi\) :

Nanoparticles volume fraction

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

τ :

Transmissivity

bf:

Base fluid

c:

Collector

el:

Electrical

in:

Inlet

le:

Latent enthalpy

n:

Nanoparticle

nf:

Nanofluid

out:

Outlet

ov:

Overall

ref:

Reference value

th:

Thermal

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    Ahmed Issa Abbood AL-Musawi, Amin Taheri, Amin Farzanehnia & Mohammad Passandideh-Fard

  2. Department of Energy, Quchan University of Technology, Quchan, Iran

    Mohammad Sardarabadi

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  1. Ahmed Issa Abbood AL-Musawi
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Correspondence to Mohammad Passandideh-Fard.

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AL-Musawi, A.I.A., Taheri, A., Farzanehnia, A. et al. Numerical study of the effects of nanofluids and phase-change materials in photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems. J Therm Anal Calorim 137, 623–636 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7972-6

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