Experimental investigation of using nano-PCM/nanofluid on a photovoltaic thermal system (PVT): Technical and economic study

•Assessment of the technical & economic viability of a PVT system.•The proposed PVT systems electrical efficiency improved from 7.1% to 13.7% and thermal efficiency was 72%.•The cost of energy is 0.125 USD/kWh and annual capacity factor is 22.03%.•Optimised PVT system has 5–6 year payback period...

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Published inThermal science and engineering progress Vol. 11; pp. 213 - 230
Main Authors Al-Waeli, Ali H.A., Kazem, Hussein A., Chaichan, Miqdam T., Sopian, K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2019
Subjects
Economical evaluation
nano-PCM
Nanofluid
Photovoltaic thermal
Technical
Economical evaluation
Nanofluid
nano-PCM
Photovoltaic thermal
Technical
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Summary:•Assessment of the technical & economic viability of a PVT system.•The proposed PVT systems electrical efficiency improved from 7.1% to 13.7% and thermal efficiency was 72%.•The cost of energy is 0.125 USD/kWh and annual capacity factor is 22.03%.•Optimised PVT system has 5–6 year payback periods. This paper shows a technoeconomic evaluation of a PVT system. The PV cooling system consists of a tank attached to the panel back side filled with PCM (paraffin wax) mixed with nano-SiC to increase its thermal conductivity and the reservoir is cooled by recycling nanofluid (water + nano-SiC). The MATLAB program was used for economic evaluation. The experimental work was also carried out and the data obtained were used for evaluation. To improve heat transfer more, nanofluid was used with nano-PCMs in the studied PVT compound. The nanomaterial used in the current study was silicon carbide (SiC) and the PCM selected was paraffin wax. The economic evaluation aspect provided that the cost of the life cycle, the cost per item, and the percentage cost of the system. The technical side introduced the efficiency of the inverter, the specific yield, and the capacity factor which were 97.3%, 190.4 kWh/kWp, and 25.9%, respectively. The output power of this system, electrical and thermal efficiencies were found to be 12.7 W, 13.7% and 72.0%, respectively. The cost of electricity and payback periods were 0.125 $/kWh and 5–6 years, respectively. The results indicated that the studied system is economically feasible and shows great promise.
ISSN:2451-9049
2451-9049
DOI:10.1016/j.tsep.2019.04.002