Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH
Volume 45, Issue 2, Pages 1576-1586Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/er.5782
Keywords
chimney; passive cooling; PVT system; system efficiency
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Passive air cooling is gaining importance as a photovoltaic thermal management technique, and research shows that enhancing the performance of a traditional solar air heater by incorporating a chimney can improve the overall efficiency of PV modules.
The foreseeable growth of photovoltaic (PV) systems highlights the prominence of improving its efficiency. The performance of PV module deteriorates as a major part of irradiance is converted to heat. Amongst several PV thermal management techniques, passive air cooling is gaining importance due to its self-sustained nature. In the present experimental study, the performance of conventional solar air heater is enhanced by incorporating chimney. Further, by placing the PV module in the airflow path, its performance is improved compared to an identical module kept open to ambient. During testing, a maximum system efficiency of 35% was observed as air heater contributes to the maximum thermal efficiency of 25%. Further, due to better airflow over the PV module rear surface, a 13% reduction in surface temperature was observed compared to the outer module, which gave a 6% rise in power output. In such a combi system, the working of both PV and air heater complements the advantage to each other. Hence, the total efficiency of the air heater and PV module as two separate entities is always less than the system efficiency of the combi system.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available