Investigation of the performance of a hybrid PV/thermal system using water/silver nanofluid-based optical filter

A specific part of the incident sun light on the PV panel that is responsible for the overheating of the cells might be filtered using nanofluids-based optical filter. The goal of this particular analysis is to, numerically, look into the functionality of the hybrid Photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar system accompanied with an optical filtration channel (PV/OF). This analysis is among the first studies to evaluate the impact of many optical filtration managing parameters on the functionality of the hybrid PV/OF system at different atmospheric conditions and solar concentrations using the water/silver nanofluid as a working fluid. The thermal, optical, and electrical models have been developed to assess the common performance of the hybrid system. The effects of the loading and size of the nanoparticles, the height of the optical nanofluid channel and the rate of flow on the common performance of the system at different atmospheric conditions have been examined. The numerical results were validated with experimental data readily available in the literature. Comparatively to the individual PV system, the hybrid system has declared better general performance. This specific enhancement was pronounced at higher atmospheric temperatures and solar concentrations. At an atmospheric temperature of 45 degrees C and solar concentration of 5, the hybrid system was able to produce both electrical and thermal energies with efficiencies of 8.4% and 66.7% respectively, at the same time, where the standalone PV system was showing an electrical efficiency of 3.7%. Nevertheless, the electrical performance was not better at atmospheric temperatures lower than 34.1 degrees C in addition to unity solar concentration. At 25 degrees C, the hybrid system shows electrical and thermal efficiencies of 10.7% and 57.7%, respectively, compared to an electrical efficiency of 11% for the standalone system. The results of the study reveal that the hybrid PV/OF system can be an excellent replacement for the single PV system and its potential becomes more significant at the high atmospheric temperatures and solar concentrations. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study shows that the hybrid PV/OF system outperforms standalone PV systems, especially in terms of producing electrical and thermal energies, under high atmospheric temperatures and solar concentrations.