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Radiative cooling system integrated with heat sink for the thermal management of photovoltaic modules under extreme climate conditions

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Abstract

Suitable thermal management of photovoltaic (PV) modules can increase their efficiency. Alongside, the extra amount of energy needed for their thermal management should also be minimized to improve the overall efficiency of the PV system. This leads to exploring passive thermal management techniques. Recently, radiative cooling (RC) has been explored widely as a passive thermal management technique for PV systems. This paper explores radiative cooling and heat sink (HS) as passive methods for thermal regulation of the photovoltaic systems to get lower and uniform temperature distribution along the PV module. A comprehensive two-dimensional model of the proposed system is developed and analyzed in commercial COMSOL Multiphysics software. The governing equations are solved numerically using finite element methods, and simulations are carried out. Four different configurations, namely Case-0: photovoltaic-only system, Case-1: photovoltaic + heat sink, Case-2: photovoltaic + radiative cooling, and Case-3: photovoltaic + heat sink + radiative cooling systems, are considered in this analysis. The performance of four cases has been compared regarding PV temperature reduction, power output, and conversion efficiency. The performance analysis is carried out for the climatic conditions of the Atacama Desert. The results indicated that the photovoltaic + heat sink + radiative cooling system, i.e., Case-3, is the most efficient among all cases. The reduction in the maximum PV operating temperature and improvements in the maximum PV power output and minimum PV conversion efficiency of the photovoltaic + heat sink + radiative cooling system compared to that of the photovoltaic system alone are 6.63%, 8.57%, and 11.11%, respectively. The findings of this study can be used to effectively design the cooling system for the thermal management of photovoltaic modules installed in desert locations.

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Abbreviations

A :

Area (m2)

c p :

Specific heat capacity (J kg−1 K−1)

c 0 :

Speed of light in vacuum (m s−1)

c 2 :

Constant

e :

Emissive power (W m−2)

E :

Input energy (W m−2)

F ext :

External incident radiation

FEPi :

Fractional blackbody emissive power

g :

Gravitational acceleration (m s−2)

G :

Solar radiation (W m−2)

h P :

Planck constant (J s)

h c :

Convective heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

H :

Enthalpy (J kg−1)

J :

Radiosity (W m−2)

k :

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

k b :

Boltzmann constant (J K−1)

L :

Length (m)

n :

Unit vector

Pr :

Prandtl number

Q :

Heat transfer rate (W)

q :

Heat flux (W m−2)

q i :

Internal heat generation per unit volume (W m−3)

Re :

Reynolds number

t :

Time (hr)

T :

Temperature (K)

u :

Fluid velocity (m s−1)

V :

Volume (m3)

α :

Absorptivity

β :

Temperature coefficient of efficiency (K−1)

ε :

Surface emissivity

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

σ :

Stefan–Boltzmann constant (W m−2 K−4)

τ :

Transmissivity

λ :

Wavelength (m)

ρ d :

Diffuse reflectivity

μ :

Dynamic viscosity (kg ms−1)

θ :

Inclination angle

ƞ :

Efficiency

\(\nabla\) :

Difference

amb:

Ambient

b:

Blackbody

ext:

External

i:

i-th Layer

j:

Layer above the ith layer

m:

Mutual

PV:

Photovoltaic

p:

Constant pressure

ref:

Reference

sun:

Sun

x:

x Direction

y:

y Direction

CPV:

Concentrated photovoltaic

HS:

Heat sink

PV/T:

Photovoltaic/thermal

PV:

Photovoltaic

RC:

Radiative cooling

TEG:

Thermoelectric generator

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, JLN Marg, Malaviya Nagar, 302017, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

    Ramesh Kumar, Manish Vashishtha & Sushant Upadhyaya

  2. Departamento de Ciencias de la Energía y Mecánica, Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE, P.O. Box 171-5-231B, Sangolquí, Ecuador

    Francisco J. Montero

  3. Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica y Metalúrgica, Escuela de Ingeniería, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 7820436, Santiago de Chile, Chile

    Francisco J. Montero

  4. School of Mechanical Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, South Korea

    Tauseef-ur Rehman

  5. Department of Electrical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, JLN Marg, Malaviya Nagar, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 302017, India

    Ravita Lamba

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  1. Ramesh Kumar
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  2. Francisco J. Montero
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  3. Tauseef-ur Rehman
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  4. Ravita Lamba
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Correspondence to Tauseef-ur Rehman.

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Kumar, R., Montero, F.J., Rehman, Tu. et al. Radiative cooling system integrated with heat sink for the thermal management of photovoltaic modules under extreme climate conditions. J Therm Anal Calorim 148, 9099–9112 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-023-12291-1

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