Analytical, experimental, and numerical analysis of a microchannel cooling system for high-concentration photovoltaic cells

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. A. Ortegon ◽  
R. R. Souza ◽  
J. B. C. Silva ◽  
E. M. Cardoso
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Analysis ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Photovoltaic Cells ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Microchannel Cooling

Computational Analysis of Nanofluid Cooling of High Concentration Photovoltaic Cells

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Xu ◽  
C. Kleinstreuer
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Optimal Parameter ◽  
Photovoltaic Cells ◽  
System Efficiency ◽  
Operational Parameters ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Temperature Range

High concentration photovoltaic devices require effective heat rejection to keep the solar cells within a suitable temperature range and to achieve acceptable system efficiencies. Various techniques have been developed to achieve these goals. For example, nanofluids as coolants have remarkable heat transfer characteristics with broad applications; but, little is known of its performance for concentration photovoltaic cooling. Generally, a cooling system should be designed to keep the system within a tolerable temperature range, to minimize energy waste, and to maximize system efficiency. In this paper, the thermal performance of an Al2O3-water cooling system for densely packed photovoltaic cells under high concentration has been computationally investigated. The model features a representative 2D cooling channel with photovoltaic cells, subject to heat conduction and turbulent nanofluid convection. Considering a semi-empirical nanofluid model for the thermal conductivity, the influence of different system design and operational parameters, including required pumping power, on cooling performance and improved system efficiency has been evaluated. Specifically, the varied system parameters include the nanoparticle volume fraction, the inlet Reynolds number, the inlet nanofluid temperature, and different channel heights. Optimal parameter values were found based on minimizing the system's entropy generation. Considering a typical 200-sun concentration, the best performance can be achieved with a channel of 10 mm height and an inlet Reynolds number of around 30,000, yielding a modest system efficiency of 20%. However, higher nanoparticle volume fractions and lower nanofluid inlet temperatures further improve the cell efficiency. For a more complete solar energy use, a combined concentration photovoltaic and thermal heating system are suggested.

scholarly journals Development of one-section microchannels cooling system for high-concentration photovoltaic cells

2019 ◽  
Vol 164 (0) ◽  
pp. 250-270
Author(s):  
Mohammed , Ibrahim ◽  
Hala , Abdel-Hameeda ◽  
Hosny Abou-Ziyana,
Keyword(s):  
Cooling System ◽  
Photovoltaic Cells ◽  
High Concentration

A Numerical Analysis on the System Impedance in a Fan Cooling System

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong-Il Kim ◽  
Ki-So Bok ◽  
Han-Bae Lee
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Analysis ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Pressure Difference ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Computational Time ◽  
Computational Domain ◽  
Impedance Curve ◽  
Fan Cooling ◽  
Large Investment

To seek the fan operating point on a cooling system with fans, it is very important to determine the system impedance curve and it has been usually examined with the fan tester based on ASHRAE standard and AMCA standard. This leads to a large investment in time and cost, because it could not be executed until the system is made actually. Therefore it is necessary to predict the system impedance curve through numerical analysis so that we could reduce the measurement time and effort. This paper presents how the system impedance curve (pressure drop curve) is computed by CFD in substitute for experiment. In reverse order to the experimental principle of the fan tester, pressure difference was adopted first as inlet and outlet boundary conditions of the system and then flow rate was calculated. After determining the system impedance curve, it was compared with experimental results. Also the computational domain of the system was investigated to minimize computational time.

scholarly journals Modeling a Passive Cooling System for Photovoltaic Cells Under Concentration

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Gray ◽  
Robert Boehm ◽  
Kenneth W. Stone
Keyword(s):  
Solar Irradiance ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Photovoltaic Cells ◽  
Theoretical Data ◽  
Photovoltaic System ◽  
Passive Cooling ◽  
Cell Temperature ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Passive Cooling System

Cooling of photovoltaic cells under high intensity solar irradiance is a major concern when designing concentrating photovoltaic systems. The cell temperature will increase if the waste heat is not removed and the cell voltage/power will decrease with increasing cell temperature. This paper presents an analysis of the passive cooling system on the Amonix high concentration photovoltaic system (HCPV). The concentrator geometry is described. A model of the HCPV passive cooling system was made using Gambit. Assumptions are discussed that were made to create the numerical model based on the actual system, the methods for drawing the model is discussed, and images of the model are shown. Fluent was used to compute the numerical results. In addition to the theoretical results that were computed, measurements were made on a system in the field. These data are compared to the theoretical data and differences are calculated. Theoretical conditions that were studied included uniform cell temperatures and worst case weather scenarios, i.e., no wind, high ambient conditions, and high solar irradiance. The performance of the Amonix high concentrating system could be improved if more waste heat were removed from the cell. Now that a theoretical model has been developed and verified, it will be used to investigate different designs and material for increasing the cooling of the system.

Multiobjective Design Optimization of Microchannel Cooling System Using High Performance Thermal Vias in LTCC Substrates

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aparna Aravelli ◽  
Singiresu S. Rao ◽  
Hari K. Adluru
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Design Optimization ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Optimization Technique ◽  
Optimization Theory ◽  
Thermal Design ◽  
Design Variables ◽  
Microchannel Cooling ◽  
Multiobjective Design

Increased heat generation in semiconductor devices for demanding applications leads to the investigation of highly efficient cooling solutions. Effective options for thermal management include passing of cooling liquid through the microchannel heat sink and using highly conductive materials. In the author's previous work, experimental and computational analyses were performed on LTCC substrates using embedded silver vias and silver columns forming microchannels. This novel technique of embedding silver vias along with forced convection using a coolant resulted in higher heat transfer rates. The present work investigates the design optimization of this cooling system (microheat exchanger) using systems optimization theory. A new multiobjective optimization problem was formulated for the heat transfer in the LTCC model using the log mean temperature difference (LMTD) method of heat exchangers. The goal is to maximize the total heat transferred and to minimize the coolant pumping power. Structural and thermal design variables are considered to meet the manufacturability and energy requirements. Pressure loss and volume of the silver metal are used as constraints. A hybrid optimization technique using sequential quadratic programming (SQP) and branch and bound method of integer programming has been developed to solve the microheat exchanger problem. The optimal design is presented and sensitivity analysis results are discussed.

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