Experimental study of natural convection heat transfer from a nonuniformly heated flat plate simulating PV panel

• Published in: Journal of mechanical science and technology Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 423 - 432
• Main Authors: Wu, Shuang-Ying, Wu, Ying-Ying, Xiao, Lan, Yang, Zhen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers 01.01.2018; Springer Nature B.V; 대한기계학회
• Subjects: Boundary conditions; Control; Dynamical Systems; Engineering; Flat plates; Fluid flow; Free convection; Heat flux; Heat transfer; Heat transfer coefficients; Industrial and Production Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Nusselt number; Parameters; Photovoltaic cells; Temperature distribution; Vibration; 기계공학; Natural convection heat transfer; PV panel; Experimental study; Nonuniform heat flux boundary; Flat plate
• DOI: 10.1007/s12206-017-1243-5
• ISSN: 1738-494X

In view of the characteristic of Photovoltaic (PV) conversion, an experimental study has been conducted to investigate the natural convection heat transfer from a flat plate. In order to simulate the real PV cells, three electrical heating circuits were employed to achieve a linear nonuniform heat flux boundary condition. The major parameters, such as the gradient parameter of heat flux k , tilt angle θ and heat flux q w were introduced to analyze their influence on heat transfer ability. Both the local temperature distribution and the overall trend of Nusselt number have been presented. Comparing with the uniform thermal boundary condition, the results show that the local convection heat transfer coefficient is fluctuated at the positions where heat flux has changed. When gradient parameter of heat flux increases, the difference of local convection heat transfer coefficient at the top of the plate between tilt angle θ = 0° and 90° becomes smaller. Moreover, it is observed that the gradient parameter of heat flux has a promotion effect on average convection Nusselt number at larger tilt angle, but the effect becomes complex as tilt angle is smaller. Finally, a correlation combining all significant factors has been put forward to estimate the natural convection heat transfer.