Numerical Study of a Heat Transfer in a Photovoltaic (PV) Panel Water Cooling Systems

Abstract

The proposed work uses the CFD commercial flow solver Ansys CFX. This solver is a finite volume-based method. Ansys CFX is used to compute heat transfer at the fluid-solid interface using its CHT module to improve the efficiency of the cooling PV system. The cooling PV system proposed by Wilson is the best-chosen design since it uses a confined water flow and then no water is lost or evaporated also it uses the hydraulic head of water from a tank without the use of a circulating pump. According to the last studies of a confined flow, the k-w turbulent model of Wilcox is selected to study heat transfer inside a 3D geometry proposed by Wilson. The recirculation area effect on heat transfer lowers the wall heat flux at the solid-fluid interface so this recirculation area must be avoided. To achieve the recirculation area, different cooling PV systems geometries can be investigated in future studies.

Keywords

• photovoltaic
• cooling
• cht
• heat transfer
• cfx