IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i24p8047-d1299578.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Experimental Investigation and Numerical Simulation of Photovoltaic Cells with Enhanced Surfaces Using the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ Software

Author

Listed:
  • Magdalena Piasecka

    (Faculty of Mechatronics and Mechanical Engineering, Kielce University of Technology, Al. Tysiaclecia Panstwa Polskiego 7, 25-314 Kielce, Poland)

  • Artur Piasecki

    (Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Geomatics and Renewable Energy, Kielce University of Technology, Al. Tysiaclecia Panstwa Polskiego 7, 25-314 Kielce, Poland)

  • Norbert Dadas

    (Faculty of Mechatronics and Mechanical Engineering, Kielce University of Technology, Al. Tysiaclecia Panstwa Polskiego 7, 25-314 Kielce, Poland)

Abstract

This article proposes a passive cooling system for photovoltaic (PV) panels to achieve a reduction in their temperature. It is known that the cooling of PV panels allows for an increase in the efficiency of photovoltaic conversion. Furthermore, reducing the high temperature of the surfaces of PV panels is also desirable to ensure their long-lasting operation and high efficiency. Photovoltaic panels were modified by adding copper sheets to the bottom side of the panels. Two types of modification of the outer surface of the sheet were investigated experimentally, which differed in surface roughness. One was characterised by the nominal roughness of the copper sheet according to its manufacturer, while the other was enhanced by a system of pins. Numerical simulations, performed using the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ software, version 2020.2.1 Build 15.04.010, helped to describe the geometry of the pins and their role in the resulting reduction in the temperature of the PV panel surface. As a result, modifying a typical PV panel by adding a copper sheet with pins helps to achieve a higher decrease in the temperature of the PV panel. The addition of a copper sheet with a smooth surface to the bare PV panel improved the operating conditions by lowering its surface temperature by approximately 6.5 K but using an enhanced surface with the highest number of pins distributed uniformly on the copper sheet surface resulted in the highest temperature drop up to 12 K. The highest number of pins distributed uniformly on the copper sheet surface resulted in the highest temperature drop in its bottom surface, that is, on average by more than 12 K compared to the surface temperature of the bare PV panel surface. The validation of the numerical calculations was performed on data from the experiments. An analysis of the quality of the numerical mesh was also performed using a method based on the grid convergence index.

Suggested Citation

  • Magdalena Piasecka & Artur Piasecki & Norbert Dadas, 2023. "An Experimental Investigation and Numerical Simulation of Photovoltaic Cells with Enhanced Surfaces Using the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ Software," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:24:p:8047-:d:1299578
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/24/8047/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/24/8047/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    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:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:24:p:8047-:d:1299578. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.