Comparative study of high concentrating photovoltaics integrated with phase-change liquid film cooling system

In high concentrating photovoltaic systems, thermal regulation is of great importance to the conversion efficiency and the safety of solar cells. Direct-contact liquid film cooling technique is an effective way of thermal regulation with low initial investment. Tilt of solar cells is common in concentrating solar systems. An evaluation of direct-contact liquid film cooling technique behind tilted high concentration photovoltaics was performed using both experimental and computational approaches. In the experiment, deionized water was used as the coolant at the back of simulated solar cells. Solar cell inclination of 0 degrees to 75 degrees with inlet water flow rate of 100-300 L/hour and inlet temperature of 30 degrees C to 75 degrees C were experimentally investigated. A two-dimensional model was developed using computational fluid dynamics technique and validated by experimental results. The effects of inclination on average temperature, temperature uniformity, and heat transfer coefficient were discovered in this paper. The results indicated that 20 degrees is the optimum angle for liquid film cooling. In addition, optimum inlet width, temperature, and velocity for inclination over 30 degrees are 0.75 mm, 75 degrees C, and 0.855 m/s, respectively.