AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF RECTANGULAR TUBE ABSORBER PHOTOVOLTAIC THERMAL COLLECTOR WITH TiO₂ AND SiO₂ NANOFLUIDS

Abstract

As an enormous potential renewable energy source, solar energy is becoming one of the most important energies which can be utilized in one way by solar cells. The solar energy is more than adequate to supply all the energy that human activity requires which can be manipulated by photovoltaic (PV) devices. Photovoltaic thermal solar collectors, known as PVT is a system that convert solar radiation into thermal and electrical energy. The system captures the remaining energy and removes waste heat from the PV module. The basic water-cooled design uses a channel to direct fluid flow using piping of various materials or plates attached to the back of a PV module. An experimental investigation was conducted to explore the effect of a rectangular tube absorber photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collector using TiO₂ and SiO₂ nanofluids. This experimental study also uses the standard photovoltaic panel and H₂O as the cooling agent to compare the end result of the experimental study. There are two volume of concentration for each type of the nanofluids which are 0.5% and 1.0% concentration respectively. These nanofluid will act as heat absorbent under the PVT that has been designed, fabricated and tested under the Malaysia tropical climate. The PVT collector consist of specially designed rectangular tube absorber which is attached under the photovoltaic module. The nanofluids in the rectangular tube absorber are kept at a constant flow rate of 6L/min, 5L/min, 4L/min and 3L/min. This experimental study is using the solar simulator to get a constant reading of the irradiance. There are three value of irradiance used to perform the experimental study which is 600 W/m², 847 W/m² and 916 W/m². An irradiance mapping experiment have been performed to determine the value of the irradiance used in this experimental study. From the experimental study, standard PV achieved the lowest power output and efficiency followed by H₂O and then SiO₂. TiO₂ have achieved the highest value of Power Output which is conducted under 916W/m² irradiance with 1.0% concentration 6L/min flow rate. From the result, it can be concluded that TiO₂ is a good heat transfer material because of their thermal physical properties such as high thermal conductivity value and fluid density.