Banner

Passive cooling of highly-concentrator triple-junction solar cell using a straight-finned heat sink: An experimental investigation

Case Studies in Thermal Engineering • 2023
Back
Publication Information
Authors H.A. Refaey; M.A. Abdelrahman; Mathkar A. Alharthi; Samir Bendoukha; Said Ghani Khan; Mohamed Emam
Keywords Not Available
Journal Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
Publisher El Sevier
Volume 40
Issue Not Available
Pages 102521
publication.type International
Paper Link Open Link
Supplementary Materials Not Available
Abstract
Herein, an experimental setup in Saudi Arabia's hot weather conditions is used to assess the electrical and thermal performance of concentrator photovoltaic triple junction (CPV TJ) cells fed through various Fresnel lenses with concentration ratios (CRs) ranging from 30.5 to 109 suns. The thermal characteristics of triple junction solar cells are investigated in passive cooling utilizing two straight-finned heat sinks with dimensions 40
40 mm (HS-A) and 40
100 mm (HS–B). Results show that the temperature and power production of the cells increases with the solar concentration ratio, whereas its efficiency decreases. It is found that using a heat sink, reduces the cell's temperature and improves heat uniformity. The larger heat sink (HS–B) performs better since it maintains the cell operating temperature at 44.7, 46.8, and 52.5 °C for the CRs of 68, 80, and 109 suns, respectively, compared to 46.5, 55.4, and 66.4 °C for the smaller one (HS-A) under the same operating conditions. Furthermore, at a CR of 68 suns, the TJ cell with the aluminium finned heat sink generates an electric output of 2.32 W/cm2 using HS-B and 2.29 W/cm2 using (HS-A), compared to 2.22 W/cm2 produced by the uncooled cell without heat sink under the same conditions.