scholarly journals Optimisation Principles for Photovoltaic/Thermal Hybrid Solar Systems, a Meta Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 66-79
Author(s):  
Richard Shin ◽  
Jose Regis Salcedo ◽  
Cheng Min Wang

Photovoltaic/Thermal hybrid (PVT) systems have shown promise as a viable commercial and private source of renewable energy. The purpose of this meta study is to combine contemporary research findings in the area of Photovoltaic (PV) and Photovoltaic/Thermal Hybrid solar systems and attempt to offer general optimisation principles for future PVT devices. Design parameters with which we attempt to optimise through will include PV material choice, CPC inclusion and system temperature optimisation for operational lifetime gain and power yield. It was found that we can combine CPC, closed glass design, spiral web flow and m>0.003kg/s to optimise the c-SI based systems and obtain an overall PVT efficiency gain of 5.5±1.6%, and that mass flow rates exceeding 0.003 kg/s can increase longevity by 80% on average and increase electrical efficiency by 1.2% when compared to conservative lower mass flow rates. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon systems were also deemed to create less high-quality energy and overshooting required thermal needs when using personal/private power statistics as selection criteria.

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahram Derakhshan ◽  
Mohammadreza Khosravian

In this paper, a parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) plant is combined with a liquid air energy storage (LAES) system. The genetic algorithm (GA) is used to optimize the proposed system for different air storage mass flow rates. The roundtrip exergy ratio is considered as the objective function and pressures of six points and mass flow rates of five points are considered as design parameters. The effects of some environmental and key parameters such as different radiation intensities, ambient temperatures, output pressures of the second compressor, and mass flow rates of the collectors fluid on the exergy ratio are investigated. The results revealed that the system could produce 17526.15 kJ/s (17.5 MW) power in high demands time and 2233.48 kJ/s (2.2 MW) power in low demands time and the system shows that a value of 15.13% round trip exergy ratio is achievable. Furthermore, the exergy ratio decreased by 5.1% when the air storage mass flow rate increased from 10 to 15 kg/s. Furthermore, the exergy ratio decreases by increasing the collectors inside fluid mass flow rate or by decreasing radiation intensity.


Author(s):  
Hassan Hajabdollahi ◽  
Zahra Hajabdollahi

In this paper, the effects of Al2O3 nanoparticles suspended in the water-based fluid on the thermo-economic properties of a fin and tube heat exchanger are studied using fast and elitism nondominated sorting genetic algorithm. Nine design parameters are selected as design parameters, and the total annual cost and effectiveness are considered as the two objective functions. First, the effect of nanoparticle on the total annual cost versus effectiveness is obtained at different cold side mass flow rates, and the results are compared with the base fluid. The results show that nanoparticles have a significant influence on the total annual cost and effectiveness in a lower cold side mass flow rates. Next, the heat exchanger volume versus effectiveness for the optimum points is measured at different cold side mass flow rates. It is demonstrated that, adding Al2O3 nanoparticle to the base fluid for the fixed value of effectiveness, decreases the heat exchanger volume, and this reduction is more significant in the lower mass flow rates. The pressure drop and total heat transfer surface area versus effectiveness for the optimum points are also obtained with and without nanoparticle. An increase in the tube side pressure drop is revealed in the nanofluid. In addition, due to the increase in the overall heat transfer coefficient, the lower heat transfer surface area is required for the fixed value of effectiveness. Finally, variations of objective functions versus particle volumetric concentration for five typical optimum points are estimated. It is concluded that an optimal value for the volumetric concentration can be obtained, in which the effectiveness is highest.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Blanke ◽  
Markus Hagenkamp ◽  
Bernd Döring ◽  
Joachim Göttsche ◽  
Vitali Reger ◽  
...  

AbstractPrevious studies optimized the dimensions of coaxial heat exchangers using constant mass flow rates as a boundary condition. They show a thermal optimal circular ring width of nearly zero. Hydraulically optimal is an inner to outer pipe radius ratio of 0.65 for turbulent and 0.68 for laminar flow types. In contrast, in this study, flow conditions in the circular ring are kept constant (a set of fixed Reynolds numbers) during optimization. This approach ensures fixed flow conditions and prevents inappropriately high or low mass flow rates. The optimization is carried out for three objectives: Maximum energy gain, minimum hydraulic effort and eventually optimum net-exergy balance. The optimization changes the inner pipe radius and mass flow rate but not the Reynolds number of the circular ring. The thermal calculations base on Hellström’s borehole resistance and the hydraulic optimization on individually calculated linear loss of head coefficients. Increasing the inner pipe radius results in decreased hydraulic losses in the inner pipe but increased losses in the circular ring. The net-exergy difference is a key performance indicator and combines thermal and hydraulic calculations. It is the difference between thermal exergy flux and hydraulic effort. The Reynolds number in the circular ring is instead of the mass flow rate constant during all optimizations. The result from a thermal perspective is an optimal width of the circular ring of nearly zero. The hydraulically optimal inner pipe radius is 54% of the outer pipe radius for laminar flow and 60% for turbulent flow scenarios. Net-exergetic optimization shows a predominant influence of hydraulic losses, especially for small temperature gains. The exact result depends on the earth’s thermal properties and the flow type. Conclusively, coaxial geothermal probes’ design should focus on the hydraulic optimum and take the thermal optimum as a secondary criterion due to the dominating hydraulics.


Author(s):  
Susheel Singh ◽  
Sumanta Acharya ◽  
Forrest Ames

Flow and heat transfer in a low aspect ratio pin-finned channel, representative of an internally cooled turbine airfoil, is investigated using Large Eddy Simulations (LES). To achieve greater control of surface cooling distribution, a novel approach has been recently proposed in which coolant is injected incrementally through a series of holes located immediately behind a specially designed cutout region downstream of the pin-fins. Sheltering the coolant injection behind the pin-fins avoids the impact of the cross-flow buildup that deflects the impingement jet and isolates the surface from cooling. The longitudinal and transverse spacing of the pin-fins, arranged in a staggered fashion, is X/D = 1.046 and S/D = 1.625, respectively. The aspect ratio (H/D) of pin-fin channel is 0.5. Due to the presence of the sequential jets in the configuration, the local cooling rates can be controlled by controlling the jet-hole diameter which impacts the jet mass flow rate. Hence, four different hole diameters, denoted as Large (L), Medium (M) , Small (S), Petite (P) are tested for impingement holes, and their effects are studied. Several patterns of the hole-size distributions are studied. It is shown that the peak Nusselt number in the stagnation region below the jet correlates directly with the jet-velocity, while downstream the Nusselt numbers correlate with the total mass flow rates or the average channel velocity. The local cooling parameter defined as (Nu/Nu0)(1-ε) correlates with the jet/channel mass flow rates.


Author(s):  
Thomas Ho¨hne ◽  
So¨ren Kliem ◽  
Roman Vaibar

The influence of density differences on the mixing of the primary loop inventory and the Emergency Core Cooling (ECC) water in the cold leg and downcomer of a Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) was analyzed at the ROssendorf COolant Mixing (ROCOM) test facility. This paper presents a matrix of ROCOM experiments in which water with the same or higher density was injected into a cold leg of the reactor model with already established natural circulation conditions at different low mass flow rates. Wire-mesh sensors measuring the concentration of a tracer in the injected water were installed in the cold leg, upper and lower part of the downcomer. A transition matrix from momentum to buoyancy-driven flow experiments was selected for validation of the CFD software ANSYS CFX. A hybrid mesh with 4 million elements was used for the calculations. The turbulence models usually applied in such cases assume that turbulence is isotropic, whilst buoyancy actually induces anisotropy. Thus, in this paper, higher order turbulence models have been developed and implemented which take into account for that anisotropy. Buoyancy generated source and dissipation terms were proposed and introduced into the balance equations for the turbulent kinetic energy. The results of the experiments and of the numerical calculations show that mixing strongly depends on buoyancy effects: At higher mass flow rates (close to nominal conditions) the injected slug propagates in the circumferential direction around the core barrel. Buoyancy effects reduce this circumferential propagation with lower mass flow rates and/or higher density differences. The ECC water falls in an almost vertical path and reaches the lower downcomer sensor directly below the inlet nozzle. Therefore, density effects play an important role during natural convection with ECC injection in PWR and should be also considered in Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS) scenarios. ANSYS CFX was able to predict the observed flow patterns and mixing phenomena quite well.


2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. McGarry ◽  
L. Grega

The mass flow distribution and local flow structures that lead to areas of reactant starvation are explored for a small power large active area PEM fuel cell. A numerical model was created to examine the flow distribution for three different inlet profiles; blunt, partially developed, and fully developed. The different inlet profiles represent the various distances between the blower and the inlet to the fuel cell and the state of flow development. The partially and fully developed inlet profiles were found to have the largest percentage of cells that are deficient, 20% at a flow rate of 6.05 g/s. Three different inlet mass flow rates (stoichs) were also examined for each inlet profile. The largest percent of cells deficient in reactants is 27% and occurs at the highest flow rate of 9.1 g/s (3 stoichs) for the partially and fully developed turbulent profiles. In addition to the uneven flow distribution, flow separation occurs in the front four channels for the blunt inlet profile at all flow rates examined. These areas of flow separation lead to localized reactant deficient areas within a channel.


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