Performance Analysis and Comparison of a Concentrated Photovoltaic System with Different Phase Change Materials
Jawad Sarwar, Muhammad Rizwan Shad, Arshmah Hasnain, Farman Ali, Konstantinos E. Kakosimos, Aritra Ghosh
Abstract
In this work, temperature regulation and electrical output of a concentrated photovoltaic system coupled with a phase change material (CPVPCM) system is investigated and compared with a single sun crystalline photovoltaic (PV) system. A fully coupled thermal-optical-electrical model has been developed in-house to conduct the simulation studies for actual weather conditions of Doha (Qatar) and selected phase change materials (PCMs). The selected PCMs are lauric acid, RT47, S-series salt, STL47, ClimSelTM C48, RT54, RT60, RT62, and RT64. An optical concentration ratio of 20× is considered on a 15 mm wide crystalline silicon cell. The temperature evolution, thermal energy storage and electrical output of the CPVPCM system are obtained for 48-hour simulations with representative weather conditions for each month of a typical meteorological year (TMY). Results and overall thermal and electrical efficiency are compared for each PCM. In brief, the CPVPCM system with S-series salt performs better than all other PCM with an overall efficiency of 54.4%. Furthermore, this system consistently produces more power than a PV system with an equal footprint (1 m2) for each month of the TMY.