Integration highly concentrated photovoltaic module exhaust heat recovery system with adsorption air-conditioning module via phase change materials

Highly concentrated photovoltaic (HCPV) module exhaust heat recycle system incorporated with adsorption air-conditioning (AAC) module and PCM, along with providing domestic hot water was designed and discussed. In light of the different grade of thermal energy, several operating modes were analyzed in this system. Besides, an appropriate composite phase change material (CPCM) was obtained to store the waste heat of HCPV module. Acetamide (AC)/expanded graphite (EG) composite phase change material (CPCM) was obtained. The phase change temperature and latent heat of AC/EG CPCM were 71.50 degrees C and 162.2 J g-(1), respectively, which was characterized by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). Thermal cycling test of the CPCM performed good thermal reliability with minor variation in thermal properties after 300 thermal cycling. The thermal conductivity of AC/EG CPCM was 6.159 W m(-1) K-1, close to 15.83 times of pure AC. The enhancement of thermal conductivity of AC/EG CPCM camalso be confirmed by the less thermal response to storage/release latent heat time. Furthermore, an effective theoretical model was proposed to predict the thermal conductivity of AC/EG CPCM blocks with various packing densities. Consequently, the obtained AC/EG CPCM can be a promising material to integrate HCPV module exhaust heat recovery system with AAC module, and offering domestic hot water simultaneously. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.