IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v123y2018icp683-693.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Detailed performance model of a hybrid photovoltaic/thermal system utilizing selective spectral nanofluid absorption

Author

Listed:
  • Brekke, Nick
  • Dale, John
  • DeJarnette, Drew
  • Hari, Parameswar
  • Orosz, Matthew
  • Roberts, Kenneth
  • Tunkara, Ebrima
  • Otanicar, Todd

Abstract

This work explores recent advancements of a concentrating hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (CPV/T) system, with an emphasis on detailed modeling and parametric performance studies. This system combines two widely researched methods of harnessing solar energy: photovoltaics (PV) and solar thermal. The CPV/T system proposed here uses a nanoparticle-based heat transfer fluid to spectrally absorb bands of the solar spectrum not efficiently utilized by the PV cell or below the bandgap of the cell with the remaining light transmitted to the PV. The fluid's spectral absorption characteristics can be tuned depending on the PV cell bandgap. A unique architecture designed in this study allows the fluid to be pumped through a transparent glass structure where it absorbs wavelengths not effectively utilized by the PV cell. This work documents the development of a 2-D thermal model of a hybrid CPV/T system. The novel model accounts for the temperature dependent PV bandgap and temperature variations along the length of the system. The thermal interactions between the filter fluid and PV, caused by the physical parameters of the system are of interest here. This includes the exergy, thermal efficiency, and PV efficiency. In this numerical study the influence of system length, mass flow rate in both the absorbing filter loop, and concentration ratio are varied parametrically to understand the potential operational space of this type of collector. Two common cell materials are also studied, crystalline silicon and gallium arsenide. In addition, this is the first study that investigates the role of heat transfer on system performance when the working fluid flows in a cascaded fashion through the PV and filter channel, and when these flow rates are decoupled. Results show that decoupling these flowrates is an important factor as lower convective heat transfer is advantageous in the filter versus the PV cooling side. At a concentration ratio of 25x the cSi system achieves an exergetic efficiency of 41.3% with 71.3% coming from heat versus 42.3% exergetic efficiency with 57.7% coming from heat for the GaAs system.

Suggested Citation

  • Brekke, Nick & Dale, John & DeJarnette, Drew & Hari, Parameswar & Orosz, Matthew & Roberts, Kenneth & Tunkara, Ebrima & Otanicar, Todd, 2018. "Detailed performance model of a hybrid photovoltaic/thermal system utilizing selective spectral nanofluid absorption," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 683-693.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:123:y:2018:i:c:p:683-693
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.01.025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148118300259
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2018.01.025?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Otanicar, Todd P. & Theisen, Stephen & Norman, Tyler & Tyagi, Himanshu & Taylor, Robert A., 2015. "Envisioning advanced solar electricity generation: Parametric studies of CPV/T systems with spectral filtering and high temperature PV," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 224-233.
    2. Mojiri, Ahmad & Taylor, Robert & Thomsen, Elizabeth & Rosengarten, Gary, 2013. "Spectral beam splitting for efficient conversion of solar energy—A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 654-663.
    3. Crisostomo, Felipe & Taylor, Robert A. & Zhang, Tian & Perez-Wurfl, Ivan & Rosengarten, Gary & Everett, Vernie & Hawkes, Evatt R., 2014. "Experimental testing of SiNx/SiO2 thin film filters for a concentrating solar hybrid PV/T collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 79-87.
    4. Mojiri, Ahmad & Stanley, Cameron & Rodriguez-Sanchez, David & Everett, Vernie & Blakers, Andrew & Rosengarten, Gary, 2016. "A spectral-splitting PV–thermal volumetric solar receiver," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 63-71.
    5. Looser, R. & Vivar, M. & Everett, V., 2014. "Spectral characterisation and long-term performance analysis of various commercial Heat Transfer Fluids (HTF) as Direct-Absorption Filters for CPV-T beam-splitting applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1496-1511.
    6. Chow, T.T., 2010. "A review on photovoltaic/thermal hybrid solar technology," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 365-379, February.
    7. Stanley, Cameron & Mojiri, Ahmad & Rahat, Mirza & Blakers, Andrew & Rosengarten, Gary, 2016. "Performance testing of a spectral beam splitting hybrid PVT solar receiver for linear concentrators," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 303-313.
    8. Hassani, Samir & Taylor, Robert A. & Mekhilef, Saad & Saidur, R., 2016. "A cascade nanofluid-based PV/T system with optimized optical and thermal properties," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 963-975.
    9. Crisostomo, Felipe & Hjerrild, Natasha & Mesgari, Sara & Li, Qiyuan & Taylor, Robert A., 2017. "A hybrid PV/T collector using spectrally selective absorbing nanofluids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 1-14.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Widyolar, Bennett & Jiang, Lun & Winston, Roland, 2018. "Spectral beam splitting in hybrid PV/T parabolic trough systems for power generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 236-250.
    2. Ju, Xing & Xu, Chao & Han, Xue & Du, Xiaoze & Wei, Gaosheng & Yang, Yongping, 2017. "A review of the concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (CPVT) hybrid solar systems based on the spectral beam splitting technology," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 534-563.
    3. Otanicar, Todd & Dale, John & Orosz, Matthew & Brekke, Nick & DeJarnette, Drew & Tunkara, Ebrima & Roberts, Kenneth & Harikumar, Parameswar, 2018. "Experimental evaluation of a prototype hybrid CPV/T system utilizing a nanoparticle fluid absorber at elevated temperatures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1531-1539.
    4. Alois Resch & Robert Höller, 2021. "Electrical Efficiency Increase in CPVT Collectors by Spectral Splitting," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, December.
    5. An, Wei & Wu, Jinrui & Zhu, Tong & Zhu, Qunzhi, 2016. "Experimental investigation of a concentrating PV/T collector with Cu9S5 nanofluid spectral splitting filter," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 197-206.
    6. Mojumder, Juwel C. & Aminossadati, Saiied M. & Leonardi, Christopher R., 2024. "Numerical analysis of a hybrid SF-CPV/T collector using spectral-filter nanofluids suitable for a high operating temperature range," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    7. Adam, Saadelnour Abdueljabbar & Ju, Xing & Zhang, Zheyang & Abd El-Samie, Mostafa M. & Xu, Chao, 2019. "Theoretical investigation of different CPVT configurations based on liquid absorption spectral beam filter," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    8. Liang, Huaxu & Wang, Fuqiang & Yang, Luwei & Cheng, Ziming & Shuai, Yong & Tan, Heping, 2021. "Progress in full spectrum solar energy utilization by spectral beam splitting hybrid PV/T system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    9. Lamnatou, Chr. & Vaillon, R. & Parola, S. & Chemisana, D., 2021. "Photovoltaic/thermal systems based on concentrating and non-concentrating technologies: Working fluids at low, medium and high temperatures," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    10. Mojiri, Ahmad & Stanley, Cameron & Rodriguez-Sanchez, David & Everett, Vernie & Blakers, Andrew & Rosengarten, Gary, 2016. "A spectral-splitting PV–thermal volumetric solar receiver," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 63-71.
    11. Wu, Jinshun & Zhang, Xingxing & Shen, Jingchun & Wu, Yupeng & Connelly, Karen & Yang, Tong & Tang, Llewellyn & Xiao, Manxuan & Wei, Yixuan & Jiang, Ke & Chen, Chao & Xu, Peng & Wang, Hong, 2017. "A review of thermal absorbers and their integration methods for the combined solar photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) modules," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 839-854.
    12. Ma, Tao & Li, Meng & Kazemian, Arash, 2020. "Photovoltaic thermal module and solar thermal collector connected in series to produce electricity and high-grade heat simultaneously," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    13. Keçebaş, Ali & Güler, Onur Vahip & Georgiev, Aleksandar G. & Gürbüz, Emine Yağız & Tuncer, Azim Doğuş & Şahinkesen, İstemihan, 2025. "Thermodynamic analysis and efficiency enhancement of PV/T systems using ethanol-based phase change material," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    14. Tang, Sanli & Hong, Hui & Jin, Hongguang & Xuan, Yimin, 2019. "A cascading solar hybrid system for co-producing electricity and solar syngas with nanofluid spectrum selector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C), pages 231-240.
    15. Daneshazarian, Reza & Cuce, Erdem & Cuce, Pinar Mert & Sher, Farooq, 2018. "Concentrating photovoltaic thermal (CPVT) collectors and systems: Theory, performance assessment and applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 473-492.
    16. Huaxu, Liang & Fuqiang, Wang & Dong, Zhang & Ziming, Cheng & Chuanxin, Zhang & Bo, Lin & Huijin, Xu, 2020. "Experimental investigation of cost-effective ZnO nanofluid based spectral splitting CPV/T system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    17. Pan, Hong-Yu & Chen, Xue & Xia, Xin-Lin, 2022. "A review on the evolvement of optical-frequency filtering in photonic devices in 2016–2021," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    18. Wang, Kai & Pantaleo, Antonio M. & Herrando, María & Faccia, Michele & Pesmazoglou, Ioannis & Franchetti, Benjamin M. & Markides, Christos N., 2020. "Spectral-splitting hybrid PV-thermal (PVT) systems for combined heat and power provision to dairy farms," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 1047-1065.
    19. Xia, Xiaokang & Wei, Wei & Yu, Bendong & Li, Niansi & Ji, Jie, 2024. "Experiment and numerical investigation on a spectral splitting PV/T system for electrical energy and thermal output," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    20. Huang, Gan & Wang, Kai & Curt, Sara Riera & Franchetti, Benjamin & Pesmazoglou, Ioannis & Markides, Christos N., 2021. "On the performance of concentrating fluid-based spectral-splitting hybrid PV-thermal (PV-T) solar collectors," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 590-605.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:123:y:2018:i:c:p:683-693. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.