Effect of Phase Change Material and orientation angles on the efficiency of hexagonal solar Photo-voltaic module

• Published in: IOP conference series. Earth and environmental science Vol. 573; no. 1; pp. 12025 - 12034
• Main Authors: Raj Chhetri, Aditya, Russell John, Barreto, Das, Arunabha, Venugopal, T., Gobinath, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Alternative energy sources; Design; Electric potential; Electric power distribution; Electricity; Energy; Energy harvesting; Fossil fuels; Irradiation; Modules; Paraffin; Paraffin wax; Passive cooling; PCM; Phase change materials; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaics; PV module; Radiation; Renewable energy; Renewable energy device; Solar energy; Voltage
• ISSN: 1755-1307; 1755-1315
• DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/573/1/012025

Electricity has been paid much attention towards its entry in all sectors of human life, ever long since its revolutionary invention. Networking the disconnected hamlets with reliable electricity is still found to be challenging in many countries, due to demographic conditions, where electricity remains elusive. Solar energy, a form of renewable energy that has been proved to be a viable alternative to fossil fuels could bea potential solution for regions with poor distribution of power. The present work aims t augmenting the solar energy harvesting in a PV module with a phase change material. A portable PV module is fabricated based on an innovative design including passive cooling with paraffin wax and arrangements for enhanced solar irradiation. The new design is tested for its performance at different temperatures and it is found that the module with PCM has shown 3% of increase in voltage generation over the conventional one. Also, paraffin wax is found to maintain the module temperature at 5% lesser than the normal one on an average. Five different angles of orientation of the mirrors say, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75° & 90° with module axis are tested and it is observed that 60° is optimum in harvesting the voltage. The results revealed that the new design is more efficient and viable for its usage.