A remarkable advancement in solar energy technology has been made by researchers at Chouaïb Doukkali University in Morocco, who have developed an enhanced photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) solar panel.
As part of their innovative approach, the study team unveiled a customized channel-box heat exchanger. By guaranteeing that the whole surface of the solar panel stays in direct contact with the cooling fluid, this component is essential to improving convective heat exchange. By reducing temperature variance, a frequent problem that has historically accelerated the degradation and reduced longevity of traditional PVT panels, this design enhancement seeks to minimize it.
“In this work, a new aluminum heat exchanger configuration, consisting of 94 channels and attached directly to the PV module, was designed,” explained the researchers. Their goal was to “solve the problem of temperature inequality, which impacts the durability of PV panels.”
A solar module, a Tedlar layer, two transparent ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) layers, and a glass cover plate are among the essential parts of the recently created PVT panel. The heat exchanger, which is essential to the functioning of the panel, is separated into two sections: one that is made of solid aluminum and the other that uses water as a cooling medium. The coolant inlet (AZ), heat exchange area (ZE), and fluid evacuation zone (VZ) are the other three divisions of the heat exchanger.
The researchers ran simulations with COMSOL software, and the results looked good. The panel showed an astounding 90.7% overall efficiency, a thermal efficiency of 78.59%, and an electrical efficiency of 12.11%. These simulations emphasized how crucially the flow rate of the cooling fluid affects the panel’s performance. For example, the testing showed that the temperature of the solar cell decreased by 33.59°F for every 10 L/h increase in flow rate. This led to an increase in power production of 0.798 W and a 0.051% improvement in cell efficiency.
The alveolar plate in the panel’s heat exchange zone has a bottom wall that is also 0.4 mm thick and a flat top wall that is 0.4 mm thick and in contact with the PV module. The researchers emphasized that it “enables the optimal transfer of heat between the PV module and the circulating cooling fluid within the channels.”
“The proposed PVT-C offers good results in terms of temperature inhomogeneity and overall performance,” they concluded.