Numerical study on the performance of photovoltaic thermal unit condenser with water/nanofluids as fluids medium. (September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Basalike, Pie; Peng, Wang; Zhang, Jili
• Is Part Of: Renewable energy. Volume 197(2022)
• Page Start: 606
• Page End: 616
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Subjects: PVT unit Condenser -- Numerical study -- Water/nanofluids -- Night cold of sky -- Performance; Renewable energy sources -- Periodicals; Power resources -- Periodicals; Énergies renouvelables -- Périodiques; Ressources énergétiques -- Périodiques; 333.794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.08.009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-1481

Abstract

Abstract: To fully exploit the use of water/nanofluids in the photovoltaic thermal (PVT) unit condenser and further increase renewable energy resources in energy mix, the current paper numerically studies the effect of operating water/PVT unit, Al3 O2 -water/PVT unit and Ag-water/PVT unit on the overall performance. In the ANSYS Fluent 18, the mathematical equations related to these models were discretized by the second order upwind scheme and solved at steady state, considering the fluid inside pipe as laminar flow. The results were obtained and discussed in terms of coefficient of performance (COP), Nusselt number ( Nu ), specific exergy (Ein, out ) and outlet flow temperature (Tout ), at different nanoparticle fractions and operating conditions of both flow and weather. A higher inlet mass flow rate of nanofluids (Ag-water and Al3 O2 -water) was recommended both for better COP and handling nanoparticles deposition problem. In addition, due to thermal conductivity difference, the maximum COP of about 3 was achieved from PVT unit condenser with Ag-water as fluid medium. The optimum conditions of flow and weather were proposed for the operation of three considered PVT units condenser.