Abstract
The efficiency of the photovoltaic (PV) panel would drop significantly as the absorbed solar radiation converts into heat. To improve the performance of PV, a novel cooling system with phase change material (PCM) and air forced convection cooling is developed, the flow and heat transfer of molten PCM (mPCM) under flow boundary is focused and investigated through numerical method. Three Rayleigh numbers for heat flux boundary (10(4), 10(5), and 10(6)), five Reynolds numbers for forced convection boundary (1 x 10(4), 1.5 x 10(4), 2 x 10(4), 3 x 10(4) and 4 x 10(4)), three aspect ratios (5, 8, and 10) and tilt angles (30 degrees, 45 degrees, and 60 degrees) for design parameters are considered. A group of dimensionless numbers is performed to describe heat transfer characteristics. It is concluded that different boundary conditions would cause different flow and heat transfer characteristics in the enclosure. Especially for the forced convection boundary, increasing Reynolds number can improve the heat transfer efficiency and reduce the temperature at the same time. Further, the influence of each factor on heat transfer is quantified, as the Rayleigh number increases by two orders of magnitude, Reynolds number increases by 33.33%, aspect ratio enlarged by double variation and tile angle varied by 50%, the heat transfer efficiency changes by 36.53%, 10.76%, 28.45% and 20.34%, respectively.
NSTL
Elsevier