화학공학소재연구정보센터
Energy Conversion and Management, Vol.153, 106-114, 2017
Numerical study of a novel miniature compound parabolic concentrating photovoltaic/thermal collector with microencapsulated phase change slurry
The efficiencies of solar energy collectors are mainly limited by the light collecting ability and the performance of solar cells. In this work, a novel type of compound parabolic concentrating photovoltaic/thermal collector with microencapsulated phase change slurry was proposed to solve these problems. The designed solar collector was reduced to a 3-dimension physical model and numerically studied. Solar cells temperature, outlet temperature of the fluid, electrical, thermal and overall efficiency were simulated and analyzed to evaluate the dynamic performance of the hybrid photovoltaic/thermal collector. The comparison has been done between the microencapsulated phase change slurry and water as cooling fluid in the daytime. It was found that the thermal and electrical efficiency had both been improved due to the existence of the latent heat of microencapsulated phase change slurry. When the solar radiation was the lowest at 18:00, the thermal efficiency was the highest, 78.5% for microencapsulated phase change slurry and 71.9% for water, and the electrical efficiency was also the highest, 11.8% for microencapsulated phase change slurry and almost the same for water. And when the solar radiation reached highest at noon, the thermal efficiency for microencapsulated phase change slurry and water dropped to 58.6% and 55.3%, the electrical efficiency for microencapsulated phase change slurry and water dropped to 11.4% and 11.2%. The maximum thermal efficiency enhancement by using microencapsulated phase change slurry was 9.24% and the maximum electrical efficiency enhancement by using microencapsulated phase change slurry was 1.8%. Above all, the proposed compound parabolic concentrating photovoltaic/thermal collector with microencapsulated phase change slurry flow has potential for further development in solar energy application.