Plate micro-fins in natural convection: an opportunity for passive concentrating photovoltaic cooling
Micheli, L; Reddy, KS; Mallick, TK
Date: 1 December 2015
Article
Journal
Energy Procedia
Publisher
Elsevier
Publisher DOI
Abstract
The raise in temperature is a non-negligible issue for concentrating photovoltaics (CPV), where the sunlight is concentrated up to thousands of times and a large amount of heat is collected on the solar cells. Micro-fins have been identified as one of the most promising solution for CPV cooling: despite its potentials, the number of ...
The raise in temperature is a non-negligible issue for concentrating photovoltaics (CPV), where the sunlight is concentrated up to thousands of times and a large amount of heat is collected on the solar cells. Micro-fins have been identified as one of the most promising solution for CPV cooling: despite its potentials, the number of publications on this subject is still limited. The present paper resumes the state-of-the-art of the research on micro-fins, in order to identify the most convenient fin geometry for CPV applications. The results of the investigation conducted in this work show that, compared to a conventional heat sink, micro-fins can improve the thermal performance and, at the same time, lower the weight of a system. For this reason, they are particularly beneficial for tracked systems, such as CPV, where a reduced weight means a reduced load for the tracker. The heat transfer coefficients measured through an experimental setup are used to predict the performance of a micro-finned CPV system in natural convection: an optimized fin array is found able to enhance the mass specific power up to 50% compared to an unfinned surface.
Engineering
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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