CFD Analysis of Phase Change Materials Integrated with Solar Photovoltaic Modules

Abstract

The electrical output decreases in the PV system due to the heat generation in photovoltaic (PV) cell. The part of PV heat formation can be removed through attachment of phase change materials (PCM) at rear side of the ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). The paper explains the Temperature distribution in the PV modules and analysis was done with and without PCM in two different weather conditions. Then the PCM (Calcium chloride hexa-hydrate) is connected on the PV panel rear side to evaluate the different solar irradiance levels. In Literature it is observed that the heat removal of PCM capability is used to control the generation of heat of the PV system. Thus the current work is to investigate the effects of PCMs in photovoltaic cell which reduces its temperature and also the thermal response of PV-PCM system and various weather conditions are analysed.