Numerical Modeling of an Open-Flow PV/T Cooling Collector

This paper presents computational simulation results of an open-flow flat plate water cooling collector attached to the rear side of a PV panel to extract the excessive heat from the PV panel. The numerical analysis was carried out using ANSYS FLUENT 17.0 by solving 3D conservative equations of mass, momentum and energy and utilizing the k-ε turbulent model and near-wall treatment for standard wall functions. The open-flow cooling collector included a matrix of 120 cube bulges with dimensions 15 × 15 × 15 mm arranged in 8 rows and 15 columns. The bulges were fixed on the bottom of the upper surface of the cooling collector. Four values of water flow rates of 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.5 l/min were tested. The numerical simulation showed that increased cooling water flow rates lead to a decrease in the thermal energy release rate through a decrease in the temperature difference. The results show that the water temperature difference between the outlet and inlet decreases with increasing water flow rates by 7.8%, 11.7% and 14.9% when changing the flow rates from 1.5 to 2.0, 2.5, and 3.5 l/min, respectively. The highest temperature difference is at the lowest flow rate.