Effect of thermal collector configuration on the photovoltaic heat transfer performance with 3D CFD modeling

Abstract

The shape and material of the collector configuration in photovoltaic thermal collectors (PVTs) are adjusted to alter the effectiveness of thermal conductivity. Good thermal conductivity between units plays an important role in heat absorption, and photovoltaic modules can increase electrical and thermal efficiency. In this study, a 3D computational fluid dynamics simulation of collector design in PVTs was carried out using Solidworks. The modeling was carried out on variations in the shape of boxes, pipe boxes, and triangle boxes with aluminum, copper, and mild steel materials on the thermal collector. The triangular box shape made of copper in the collector had a minimum temperature of 301.01 K when the heat generated was 1,000 W/m2 and the flow volume was 0.0005 m3/s. The difference in the heat generation rate and volume flow rate in each collector variation affects the collector temperature.

Keywords

• photovoltaic
• thermal collector
• heat absorption
• computational fluid dynamics