Investigating the Effect of Tube Diameter on the Performance of a Hybrid Photovoltaic–Thermal System Based on Phase Change Materials and Nanofluids
Saeed Alqaed,
Jawed Mustafa,
Fahad Awjah Almehmadi,
Mathkar A. Alharthi,
Mohsen Sharifpur,
Goshtasp Cheraghian
Affiliations
Saeed Alqaed
Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Najran University, P.O. Box 1988, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia
Jawed Mustafa
Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Najran University, P.O. Box 1988, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia
Fahad Awjah Almehmadi
Department of Applied Mechanical Engineering, College of Applied Engineering, Muzahimiyah Branch, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
Mathkar A. Alharthi
Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering at Yanbu, Taibah University, Yanbu Al-Bahr 41911, Saudi Arabia
Mohsen Sharifpur
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield 0028, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
Goshtasp Cheraghian
Institut für Chemie and IRIS Adlershof, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
The finite element (FEM) approach is used in this study to model the laminar flow of an eco-friendly nanofluid (NF) within three pipes in a solar system. A solar panel and a supporting phase change material (PCM) that three pipelines flowed through made up the solar system. An organic, eco-friendly PCM was employed. Several fins were used on the pipes, and the NF temperature and panel temperature were measured at different flow rates. To model the NF flow, a two-phase mixture was used. As a direct consequence of the flow rate being raised by a factor of two, the maximum temperature of the panel dropped by 1.85 °C, and the average temperature dropped by 1.82 °C. As the flow rate increased, the temperature of the output flow dropped by up to 2 °C. At flow rates ranging from low to medium to high, the PCM melted completely in a short amount of time; however, at high flow rates, a portion of the PCM remained non-melted surrounding the pipes. An increase in the NF flow rate had a variable effect on the heat transfer (HTR) coefficient.
