Photovoltaic Thermal Collectors with Phase Change Material for Southeast of England

Abstract

Temperature elevation of solar photovoltaic (PV) in the exposure of sun should be bound to avoid the fall in efficiency. Phase changing material (PCM) is a proven technology to capture the waste heat of photovoltaic. It provides cooling to PV, increase in efficiency and storage of waste heat. In this paper, the thermal conductivity of PCM heat sink is enhanced by using fins. The dual effect of PCM and fins is explored to increase the efficiency of the photovoltaic collectors. Different types of phase change material arrangements are investigated. Twenty collectors of 200Wp original PV are compared with the photovoltaic thermal PCM collectors. It is conveyed that, at Southeast England, the collected electricity is boosted by 1.20, 1.33, 1.40, 1.43 and 1.44 kWh/day through different types of phase change material arrangements.