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dc.contributor.authorAl Siyabi, I
dc.date.accessioned2019-02-13T12:45:45Z
dc.date.issued2019-02-18
dc.description.abstractConcentrating Photovoltaic technology is considered now as a promising option for solar electricity generation along with the conventional flat plate PV technology especially in high direct normal irradiance areas. However, the concentrating photovoltaic industry sector still struggles to gain market share and to achieve adequate economic returns due to challenges such as the high temperature of the solar cell which causes a reduction its efficiency. The work presented in this thesis is targeted to influence the overall performance of a high concentrated photovoltaic system by integrating both the multi-layered microchannel heat sink technique and a phase change material storage system. The proposed integrated system is composed of a multi-layered microchannel heat sink attached to a single solar cell high concentrated photovoltaic module for thermal regulation purposes. This is expected to reduce the solar cell temperature hence increasing the electrical output power. The high concentrated photovoltaic and multi-layered microchannel heat sink system is then connected to a phase change material thermal storage system to store efficiently the thermal energy discharged by the high concentrated photovoltaic and multi-layered microchannel heat sink system. The first part of the thesis discusses the influence of the multi-layered microchannel heat sink on the high concentrated photovoltaic module using both the numerical and experimental approaches. The multi-layered microchannel heat sink has been integrated for the first time with the single cell receiver and tested successfully. A numerical analysis of the high concentrated photovoltaic and multi-layered microchannel heat sink system shows the potential of the heat sink to reduce the solar cell maximum temperature and its uniformity. The thermal behaviour of the multi-layered microchannel heat sink under non-uniform heat source was experimentally investigated. The results show that in extreme heating load of 30W/cm² and in heat transfer fluid flow rate of 30ml/min, increasing the number of layers from 1-layer to 4-layers reduced the heat source temperature from 88.55°C to 73.57°C, respectively. In addition, the single layer multi-layered microchannel heat sink suffers of the most heat source temperature non-uniform compared to the heat sinks with higher number of layers. Also, the results show that increasing the number of layers from 1-layer to 4-layers reduced the pressure drop from 16.6mm H2O to 3.34 mm H2O. The indoor characterization of the high concentrated photovoltaic and multi-layered microchannel heat sink system investigated the effect of the number of layers, the homogeniser materials, and the heat transfer fluid flow rate and inlet temperature on the electrical and thermal performance of the system. The results show that the maximum power of the high concentrated photovoltaic module with glass homogeniser is 3.46W compared to 2.49W when using the crystal resin homogeniser for the 2-layers multi-layered microchannel heat sink and 30ml/min under 1000W/m² irradiance intensity. Increasing the number of layers from 1-layer to 3-layers on the high concentrated photovoltaic and multi-layered microchannel heat sink system increased the maximum electrical power by 10% and decreased the solar cell temperature 3.15°C for the heat transfer fluid flow rate of 30ml/min. This gives an increase in the maximum electrical power of 98.4mW/°C. The outdoor characterisation of the high concentrated photovoltaic and multi-layered microchannel heat sink system performance was evaluated at the University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, UK. The achieved maximum output electrical power of the system was 4.59W, filling factor of 75.1%, short circuit current of 1.96A and extracted heat of 12.84W which represents of 74.9% of the maximum solar irradiance of 881W/m². In addition, the maximum solar cell temperature reached to 60.25°C. Secondly, the experimental studies were carried out in order to investigate the performance of the phase change material storage system using paraffin wax as the PCM materials. The thermal storage system performance was evaluated in various conditions. The results show that inclination of the phase change material storage influences the melting behaviour of the phase change material where the phase change material storage of 45º inclination position melts faster than the phase change material storages in the 0º and 90º inclination positions. The phase change material melting time is reduced in the PCM storage of 45º inclination position by 13% compared to the 0º inclination position. The last part of the thesis discusses the integration of the phase change material storage with the high concentrated photovoltaic and multi-layered microchannel heat sink system. A 3D numerical model was developed to predict the behaviour of the integrated high concentrated photovoltaic and multi-layered microchannel heat sink system with the phase change material storage system using variable source conditions. The results show a higher heat absorption rate on phase change material storage that uses a lower melting temperature phase change material compared to the higher phase change material melting temperature. The multi-stages storage with different phase change materials melting temperature showed a lower heat absorption compared to the phase change material arrangement with the lower melting temperature. Also, the rate of the absorbed heat fluctuation is less affected by the phase change material arrangement with higher melting temperature.en_GB
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10871/35932
dc.publisherUniversity of Exeteren_GB
dc.titleEnhancing the performance of concentrating photovoltaics through multi-layered microchannel heat sink and phase change materialsen_GB
dc.typeThesis or dissertationen_GB
dc.date.available2019-02-13T12:45:45Z
dc.contributor.advisorSundaram, Sen_GB
dc.contributor.advisorMallick, Ten_GB
dc.contributor.advisorTahir, Aen_GB
dc.publisher.departmentRenewable Energyen_GB
dc.rights.urihttp://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserveden_GB
dc.type.degreetitleDoctor of Philosophy in Renewable Energyen_GB
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen_GB
dc.type.qualificationnameDoctoral Thesisen_GB
dcterms.dateAccepted2019-02-13
rioxxterms.versionNAen_GB
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate2019-01-16
rioxxterms.typeThesisen_GB
refterms.dateFOA2019-02-13T12:45:48Z


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