Assessment of photovoltaic thermal unit equipped with phase change material in different finned containers

摘要

In present research, PVT unit combined with paraffin in multiple finned containers is simulated and evaluated. The role of various types and numbers of fins from thermal and electrical perspectives is analyzed. Also, the influences of a) fin utilization, b) fin quantities, and c) fin configurations on the different system parameters are evaluated. The numerical approach is employed to model the PVT/PCM unit. The outcomes reveal that growing the number of fins facilitates the heat transmission into PCM, enhances the rate of melting, and declines the average surface temperature. The surface temperature (in the case of T-shaped fin) in the system with 10 fins reaches 309.6869 K which is 5.03, and 13.31 less than the average surface temperature of systems with 6 fins and without fins, respectively. The liquid fraction in container with 10 fins reaches 46.83 which is 4.05 and 10.60 higher than value of liquefied fraction in PVT/PCM systems with 6 fins and without fins, respectively. Regarding the achieved results, adding nano-powders to paraffin, augment the liquefied fraction by 2.13 compared to pure PCM.