Photovoltaic Thermal System (PVT) Using DO Radiation Model CFD Simulation, Numerical Paper Validation
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Photovoltaic Thermal systems (PVT) combine photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies to produce electricity and heat concurrently from one system. These systems usually include solar panels that capture sunlight and convert it into electricity. They also use the panels’ heat to produce hot water or space heating. Through integrating these two technologies, PVT systems provide enhanced energy efficiency and maximise the utilisation of solar resources. This makes them a highly appealing choice for generating renewable energy in residential and commercial settings. With the integration of photovoltaic and thermal capabilities, the energy output of solar energy systems is maximised, resulting in improved overall performance.
This project is a paper validation study in which a photovoltaic thermal system is simulated using DO radiation model. The reference paper, “Coupled thermal-optical numerical modeling of PV/T module – Combining CFD approach and two-band radiation DO model” is selected. In the following, a schematic of a PV/T system is shown.
Figure 1- Schematic of PV/T system extracted from the reference article
Simulation Process
As shown in Figure 1, the system consists of different parts, which indicates how much accuracy and endeavour it requires. It is designed using Design Modeler software. Further, because a structured grid is going to be employed, additional operations need to be considered in this step to create several blocks. As a result, it paves the way for the generation of a hexagonal structured grid later on in ANSYS Meshing. Figure 2 illustrates the division of the system and 1738000 created mesh cells.
Figure 2- Structured Mesh grid over the computational domain
Based on the given assumptions, the walls and pc-Si layer are considered to be non-gray diffuse surfaces. It is worth mentioning that the optical properties of a non-gray surface vary with radiation wavelength, whereas they remain constant for a gray surface. It is assumed that the incident solar radiation is perpendicular to the module surface. Moreover, Table 5 in the article shows the correlation used for water properties. Almost all of the thermal properties are temperature-dependent. However, the complex correlation of viscosity led us to write a User-defined function (UDF) for it. Finally, the Discrete Ordinates (DO) radiation model is employed.
Post-Processing
Considering the materials of different components, solar irradiation could be transmitted through the glass layer to reach the absorber, which is employed on the water tubes. As can be seen in the following contour, the heat can be transferred via the conduction mechanism to the cold water flowing at 311K temperature. At the outlet, the water`s temperature reaches 316.67K, which shows about 15% increment. On the other hand, we need to calculate efficiency to compare the paper’s results. Thus, 6,18 and 19 equations are taken. As a result, Tpv and are reported as 317.74K and 10.1% in the software, while there are 319.31K and 10.42% in the article (Table 11). In other words, there is only a 3.07% difference between the results, which proves the accuracy and validates the simulation.
Figure 3- Temperature distribution over the absorber and tubes
T-pv | η_elec | Error | |
Paper Data | 319.31K | 10.42% | 3.07% |
CFD Simulation | 317.74K | 10.1% |
We pride ourselves on presenting unique products at CFDLAND. We stand out for our scientific rigor and validity. Our products are not based on guesswork or theoretical assumptions like many others. Instead, most of our products are validated using experimental or numerical data from valued scientific journals. Even if direct validation isn’t possible, we build our models and assumptions on the latest research, typically using reference articles to approximate reality.
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1 review for Photovoltaic Thermal System (PVT) Using DO Radiation Model CFD Simulation, Numerical Paper Validation
sedsajjad –
It was really great, thank you