Experimental investigation of energy and exergy characteristics of a novel solar collector with swirling reversed circular flow jet impingement
摘要
Even though Photovoltaic technology is considered to be among the most convenient sources of electricity production, surface heat accumulation has consistently reduced its conversion efficiency. Therefore, many cooling strategies have been proposed, among which the Reversed Circular Flow Jet Impingement RCFJI is the most recent. This study seeks to address challenges associated with RCFJI, such as low turbulence generation and a high friction penalty, by developing a new design featuring Swirling Reversed Circular Flow Jet Impingement. The study was performed employing a solar simulator under air mass flow rates of (0.01–0.13) kg/s and an irradiance of (500–900) W/m2. The principal results showed that mass flow rate positively influences the efficiency of the proposed prototype, whereas solar irradiance has the opposite effect. The new design enhanced electrical energy efficiency by 12.42%, thermal energy efficiency by 4.33%, electrical exergy efficiency by 11.46%, and thermal exergy efficiency by 4.81%. Power production increased by 22.00% compared to a bare PV module. These data provide evidence that the proposed study design can better manage the thermal challenges of PV modules than PV alone or standard RCFJI.