An experimental study of a hybrid photovoltaic thermal system based on ethanol phase change self-circulation technology: Energy and exergy analysis

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) Vol. 238; p. 121663
• Main Authors: Gao, Yuanzhi, Hu, Guohao, Zhang, Yuzhuo, Zhang, Xiaosong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2022; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Cooling; Energy; Energy and exergy analysis; Energy harvesting; Ethanol; Exergy; Flow rates; Hybrid systems; Irradiance; Mass flow rate; Operating temperature; Phase change; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system; Photovoltaics; Porous media; Solar energy; Solar panels; Technology; Temperature gradients; Thermal energy; Porous media; Photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system; Phase change; Energy and exergy analysis
• ISSN: 0360-5442; 1873-6785
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.121663

The phase change cooling (PCC) technology combined with porous media is a promising way to enhance the performance of photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system. Nevertheless, the application of this method is rarely mentioned in PV/T system. This paper aims to build a new phase change self-circulation (PCSC) PV/T system based on PCC technology and porous media. The system is constructed under outdoor conditions using commercial solar panel with the size of 550 mm × 460 mm × 25 mm. The performance of the system is accessed from energetic and exergetic concept under varying operating conditions (such as solar irradiance, mass flow rates, operating temperature). The obtained data shows that the proposed system is feasible with an average cooling efficiency of 34.6%, and the maximum panel temperature difference is 4.2 °C. The average daily electrical energies of the PCSC PV/T system under mass flow rates of 0.004 kg/s, 0.007 kg/s, 0.009 kg/s are 95.36 W/m2, 94.68 W/m2, and 95.79 W/m2, respectively. The results are competitive compared with other works. In addition, the results also prove that the attached glass cover is beneficial to harvest thermal energy but not to electrical energy. Moreover, LCOE results indicate that the proposed system is economical compared with reference PV system. •Phase change self-circulation (PCSC) PV/T system was introduced.•Porous media was used to realize working fluid circulation.•The energy, exergy efficiency, IP and SI of the PCSC PV/T system were discussed.•The effect of glass cover on performance of PCSC PV/T system was studied.