Material Optimization for Concentrated Solar Photovoltaic and Thermal Co-Generation

Author(s):  
Kazuaki Yazawa ◽  
Ali Shakouri

We conducted an analytic study of concentrated solar photovoltaic and hot water co-generation based on various solar cell technologies and micro channel heat sinks. By co-optimizing the electricity generation and heat transport in the system, one can minimize the cost of the key materials and compare different tradeoffs as a function of concentration ratio or other parameters. Concentrated solar Photovoltaic (PV) based on multi junction cells can yield around 35–40% efficiency. They are suitable for high photon energy flux and they are already available in the market. However, due to high heat fluxes at large concentrations, such as 100–1000 Suns, heat sinks could be costly in terms of material mass, space, energy for pumping fluid, and system complexity. In addition, since the efficiency of solar cells decreases as the ambient temperature increases, there is a tradeoff between electricity and hot water cogeneration. Similar to our previous analysis of thermoelectric (TE) and hot water co-generation, PV/solar thermal system is also optimized. The results are compared with thermoelectric systems as a function of the concentration ratio. The solar concentrated co-generation system using either PV or TE for direct electricity generation collects more than 80% of solar energy when it is optimized. We calculate the overall cost minima as a function of concentration ratio. Although there are some differences between PV and TE, the optimum concentration ratio for the system is in the range of 100–300 Suns for both.

Author(s):  
M. Zugic ◽  
J. R. Culham ◽  
P. Teertstra ◽  
Y. Muzychka ◽  
K. Horne ◽  
...  

Compact, liquid cooled heat sinks are used in applications where high heat fluxes and boundary resistance preclude the use of more traditional air cooling techniques. Four different liquid cooled heat sink designs, whose core geometry is formed by overlapped ribbed plates, are examined. The objective of this analysis is to develop models that can be used as design tools for the prediction of overall heat transfer and pressure drop of heat sinks. Models are validated for Reynolds numbers between 300 and 5000 using experimental tests. The agreement between the experiments and the models ranges from 2.35% to 15.3% RMS.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2116 (1) ◽  
pp. 012052
Author(s):  
David Olugbenga Ariyo ◽  
Tunde Bello-Ochende

Abstract Deionized water at a temperature of 25 °C was used as the cooling fluid and aluminium as the heat sink material in the geometric optimization and parameter modelling of subcooled flow boiling in horizontal equilateral triangular microchannel heat sinks. The thermal resistances of the microchannels were minimized subject to fixed volume constraints of the heat sinks and microchannels. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) ANSYS code used for both the simulations and the optimizations was validated by the available experimental data in the literature and the agreement was good. Fixed heat fluxes between 100 and 500 W/cm2 and velocities between 0.1 and 7.0 m/s were used in the study. Despite the relatively high heat fluxes in this study, the base temperatures of the optimal microchannel heat sinks were within the acceptable operating range for modern electronics. The pumping power requirements for the optimal microchannels are low, indicating that they can be used in the cooling of electronic devices.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 34-40
Author(s):  
Hendrik Tjiawi ◽  
Andrew C. Palmer ◽  
Grahame J. H. Oliver

 The existence of hot springs coupled with the apparent anomalous high heat flow has sparked interest in the potential for geothermal development in Singapore. This geothermal resource may be potentially significant and could be exploited through Engineered Geothermal System (EGS) technology, i.e. a method to create artificial permeability at depth in granitic or sandstone formations as found under Singapore. The apparently ever-increasing fossil fuel price has made the cost of using the EGS technology more viable than it was in the past. Thus, to assess the resource, a numerical model for the geothermal reservoir has been constructed. Mass and heat flows in the system are simulated in 2D with AUTOUGH2.2, and the graphical interface processed through MULGRAPH2.2. Natural state calibration was performed to match both the observed and the expected groundwater profile, and also to match the hot water upflow at the Sembawang hot spring, with simulated flowrate matching the hot spring natural flowrate. The simulation gives an encouraging result of 125 - 150 °C hot water at depth 1.25 – 2.75 km.


1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kriston P. Brooks ◽  
Peter M. Martin ◽  
M. Kevin Drost ◽  
Charles J. Call

Abstract Battelle has developed a mesoscale combustor/evaporator that provides a lightweight and compact source of heating, cooling, or energy generation for both man-portable and stationary applications. The device uses microscale flow channels that increase the available surface area for heat transfer and reduce the fluid boundary layer. These characteristics in turn result in heat fluxes for hydrocarbon/air combustion in excess of 25 W/cm2 and thermal efficiencies of 80 to 90%. Furthermore, high heat transfer rates allow for short channels and reduced pressure drops. Recent development efforts have focused on obtaining low emissions and improving the combustor/evaporator fabrication process. By using spatially varying stoichiometry inside the combustor, catalyst coated microchannels, and increased coolant temperature, the combustor’s CO and NOx emissions were reduced to below California standards for hot water heaters and boilers. The fabrication process photochemically machines thin metal laminates and then uses diffusion bonding to form a monolithic component. This approach is capable of high fin aspect ratios and can be scaled up for mass production.


Author(s):  
Aalok Trivedi ◽  
Nikhil Lakhkar ◽  
Madhusudhan Iyengar ◽  
Michael Ellsworth ◽  
Roger Schmidt ◽  
...  

With the continuing industry trends towards smaller, faster and higher power devices, thermal management continues to be extremely important in the development of electronics. In this era of high heat fluxes, air cooling still remains the primary cooling solution in desktops mainly due to its cost. The primary goal of a good thermal design is to ensure that the chip can function at its rated frequency or speed while maintaining the junction temperature within the specified limit. The first and foremost step in measurement of thermal resistance and hence thermal characterization is accurate determination of junction temperature. Use of heat sinks as a thermal solution is well documented in the literature. Previously, the liquid cooled cold plate tester was studied using a different approach and it was concluded that the uncertainty in heat transfer coefficient was within 8% with errors in appropriate parameters, this result was supported by detailed uncertainty analysis based on Monte-Carlo simulations. However, in that study the tester was tested computationally. In this paper, testing and characterization of a heat sink tester is presented. Heat sinks were tested according to JEDEC JESD 16.1 standard for forced convection. It was observed that the error between computational and experimental values of thermal resistances was 10% for the cases considered.


2006 ◽  
Vol 956 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleg A. Voronov ◽  
Gary S. Tompa ◽  
Veronika Veress

ABSTRACTWhile absolute power levels in microelectronic devices are relatively modest (a few tens to a few hundred watts), heat fluxes can be significant (through 50 W/cm2 in current electronic chips and up to 2000 W/cm2 in semiconductor lasers). Diamond heat sinks enable heat transfer rates well above what is possible with standard thermal management devices. We have fabricated heat sinks using diamond, which has the highest temperature thermal conductivity of any known material. Polycrystalline diamonds manufactured by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) are machined by laser and combined with metallic or ceramic tiles. Cooling by fluid flow through micro-channels enhances heat removal. These unique attributes make diamond based heat sinks prime contenders for the next generation of high heat load sinks. Such devices could be utilized for efficient cooling in a variety of applications requiring high heat transfer capability, including semiconductor lasers, microprocessors, multi-chip modules in computers, laser-diode arrays, radar systems, and high-flux optics, among other applications. This paper will review test designs, heat flux measuring system, and measured heat removal values.


2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yangying Zhu ◽  
Dion S. Antao ◽  
Kuang-Han Chu ◽  
Siyu Chen ◽  
Terry J. Hendricks ◽  
...  

We investigated the role of surface microstructures in two-phase microchannels on suppressing flow instabilities and enhancing heat transfer. We designed and fabricated microchannels with well-defined silicon micropillar arrays on the bottom heated microchannel wall to promote capillary flow for thin film evaporation while facilitating nucleation only from the sidewalls. Our experimental results show significantly reduced temperature and pressure drop fluctuation especially at high heat fluxes. A critical heat flux (CHF) of 969 W/cm2 was achieved with a structured surface, a 57% enhancement compared to a smooth surface. We explain the experimental trends for the CHF enhancement with a liquid wicking model. The results suggest that capillary flow can be maximized to enhance heat transfer via optimizing the microstructure geometry for the development of high performance two-phase microchannel heat sinks.


Author(s):  
Bryan Hassell ◽  
Alfonso Ortega

Research in liquid cooled mini- and micro-channel heat sinks is growing due to the potentially high heat fluxes that can be dissipated with such devices. Deterministic mini- or micro-channel heat sinks with rectilinear channels are derivatives of more generalized porous structures. The present paper is devoted to an examination of the application of one and two equation porous media theory for modeling the thermal-fluid behavior of stacked multi-layer micro- or mini-channel heat sinks. One surface of the heat sink is exposed to high heat flux, while the other is insulated. The objectives of the paper are to examine generalizations of the geometric scaling that is elucidated by adopting a porous media approach, and the unification of models for apparently dissimilar geometries. This paper examines the relative accuracy and computational efficiency of one and two equation approaches. The error between the two models and the experimental data are examined by an error map given as a function of conductivity ratios, Darcy number (Da) and Reynolds number (Re).


Author(s):  
Naveenan Thiagarajan ◽  
Daniel T. Pate ◽  
Sushil H. Bhavnani ◽  
Rory J. Jones

Advances in electronics such as chip level integration and die stacking have led to a bottleneck in further development since dissipation of the resulting high heat fluxes continues to be a challenge. Ongoing research in the field of flow boiling to meet the rising demands has resulted in the evolution of potential cooling technologies such as microchannel heat sinks. In an effort to understand the flow boiling in these micro-structures, experiments were previously conducted by the authors using 19 parallel, surface enhanced microchannels with a hydraulic diameter of 253μm. Flow instabilities which can be attributed to channel-to-channel interaction and the effect of compressible volumes at channel exit and inlet were observed under certain subcooled boiling conditions although these were mitigated in saturated conditions by the presence of re-entrant cavities. To completely eliminate the instabilities, it is important to identify the underlying mechanisms by isolating these causes. To achieve this, a study of flow boiling of dielectric fluid FC72 (C6F14) in a single microchannel test section of height 347 microns and width ranging from 100–400 microns was conducted. The base of the microchannel was augmented with reentrant cavities. The study was performed at mass fluxes ranging from 500–2000 kg/m2-s and inlet subcooling up to 20°C. The results include the parametric effects of inlet subcooling, mass flux, heat flux and number of cavities on the pressure drop. It was observed that the pressure drop oscillations in the subcooled boiling regime observed earlier in the multichannel configuration, were not observed in the subcooled regime in the single channel test device of width 100 microns. Further, adiabatic experiments were conducted to study the effect of channel size on the friction factor. These studies will help provide fundamental design input to enable the development of microchannel heat sinks.


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