Performance enhancement of copper indium diselenide photovoltaic module using inorganic phase change material
Alagar Karthick, P. Ramanan, Aritra Ghosh, B. Stalin, R. Vignesh Kumar, I. Baranilingesan
Abstract
Abstract The work presents the method to increase the electrical efficiency and power output of photovoltaic (PV) panel with the use of phase change material (PCM). CaCl 2 .6H 2 O–Fe 3 Cl 2 .6H 2 O eutectic has a suitable melting point and high latent heat for temperature regulation of PV panel. The work has been focused on the experimental setup and simulation heat extraction from the PV panel with the use of ANSYS software. A modification of copper indium diselenide (CIS) PV module from Solar Frontier (SF170‐S) was made with a eutectic mixture (70:30) of calcium chloride hexahydrate (70%) and iron (III) chloride hexahydrate phase change material. The cell temperature of the PV panel with and without PCM was measured and compared for two typical days. The simulation of the PV‐PCM systems comprising both PV panels was performed using ANSYS (fluent) software, followed by the comparison of the results actual experimental data. The experimental results show that the maximum temperature difference on the surface of PV panel without PCM was 9°C higher than that on the panel with PCM in a period of 1 day. Referring to experimental results, the calculation of the maximum and average increase of power gain was made for PV‐PCM panel. Final results show that the electricity production of PV‐PCM panel was higher for 96.55 Whr in a particular day of experimentation.