Application of hybrid nanofluids in a novel combined photovoltaic/thermal and solar collector system

Because of the low outflow temperature of the conventional photovoltaic thermal systems and lack of electrical production of the solar thermal collectors, a novel combined system is proposed to solve the two mentioned drawbacks. This novel system is achieved by connecting a photovoltaic thermal unit to a solar thermal collector in series. To increase the overall performance of this novel combined system, different hybrid nanofluids include (1) multiwall carbon nanotube-aluminum oxide (2) multiwall carbon nanotube-silicon carbide (3) graphenealuminum oxide, and (4) graphene-silicon carbide are compared. The investigation is performed based on the three-dimensional simulation, and the Eulerian-Eulerian model is selected for the simulation of hybrid nano fluids. To estimate the performance of this novel combined system, the first and second laws of thermodynamics are used. Moreover, the share of entropy generation in all components of the system is calculated. The results indicate that the multiwall carbon-silicon carbide hybrid nanofluid with the average electrical and thermal energy efficiency of 13.85% and 56.55%, respectively, has the best performance compared to other fluids. Furthermore, in the combined system, different components of the solar collector produce more entropy generation than the components of the photovoltaic thermal module.

Automated summary

A novel combined photovoltaic thermal system is proposed to solve the low outflow temperature and lack of electrical production drawbacks in conventional systems. The performance of different hybrid nanofluids is compared, and it is found that the multiwall carbon-silicon carbide hybrid nanofluid has the best performance. Moreover, the components of the solar collector in the combined system produce more entropy generation.