Numerical Analysis of the Thermal Behaviour of a Photovoltaic Panel Coupled with Phase Change Material

Abstract

Elevated operating temperatures reduce the solar to electrical conversion efficiency of photovoltaic devices. In this paper, a numerical study is conducted to understand the thermal behavior of a photovoltaic panel with phase change materials. The analysis of the PV/PCM system was realized in three phases: temperature rise, start of melting of PCM and molten PCM so, three mathematical models for the resolution of thermal model of PV/PCM system during the solar insolation were used. First, an analytical model was used to study the behavior of PCM in state solid, after, an explicit and an implicit model were used to study globally the transfers. Different simplifications are introduced in the heat balances to realize a simple numerical approach. The Matlab software was used to solve different proposed models in this analysis. The results obtained are considered as a first approach to the study of a PV/PCM system.