Evaluation of thermal management of photovoltaic solar cell via hybrid cooling system of phase change material inclusion hybrid nanoparticles coupled with flat heat pipe

An evaluation of photovoltaic solar cell (PV) thermal regulation via a hybrid cooling system of flat heat pipes (HP) coupled with phase change material (PCM) without and with the inclusion of hybrid nanoparticles is investigated. The evaluation is based on energetic, exergetic, economic, and environmental (4E) approaches. A complete transient mathematical model is constructed and numerically solved using Runge-Kutta homemade program via MATLAB software. Two PCM (SP31 and SP15-gel) are used to investigate the performance of the hybrid cooling system in summer and winter, respectively. The data are based on the climate conditions of upper Egypt. Results show that the HP-PCM cooling system achieves higher performance than natural solar panel cooling and boosts using hybrid nanoparticles. Furthermore, the photovoltaic solar cell exergy efficiency is higher than that of PCM. The cell's operating temperature was maximally reduced by 20.9 degrees C and 18.3 degrees C, while the solar panel efficiency improved by 11.5 % and 9 % using SP31 and SP15-gel, respectively, compared with the conventional solar cell. The proposed cooling system with hybrid nanoparticles maximally achieves a daily energy efficiency of 56.45 % and 54.45 %, compared with 8.77 % and 7.84 % for the conventional solar cell system using SP31 and SP15-gel, respectively. SP31/hybrid-nano achieved average exergy efficiency of 13.23 %, while the maximum value accounted for SP15-gel/hybrid-nano at 14.98 %. The hybrid cooling system production cost is 0.0899 $/kWh, while the conventional system is 0.105 $/kWh. A hybrid cooling system based on CO2 mitigation rates is highly effective compared to the conventional one.

Automated summary

This study evaluates the thermal regulation of photovoltaic solar cells using a hybrid cooling system of flat heat pipes (HP) and phase change material (PCM), with and without hybrid nanoparticles. The evaluation is based on energetic, exergetic, economic, and environmental approaches. Results show that the HP-PCM cooling system outperforms natural solar panel cooling and the use of hybrid nanoparticles further enhances its performance. The proposed cooling system achieves significant reductions in operating temperature and improvements in solar panel efficiency compared to conventional systems. Additionally, the hybrid cooling system exhibits higher energy and exergy efficiency, as well as lower production costs, making it more effective and sustainable.