Numerical Simulation of Heat Transfer of a Concentrating Solar Photovoltaic System

A parametric analysis of heat transfer in compound parabolic concentrating photovoltaic system has been conducted using a comprehensive unified model. Simulations are undertaken for different incident solar radiation intensities and inlet air flow velocity. Computational fluid dynamics is applied to calculate the air flow and temperature distribution in different systems. The results show that the solar cell surface temperature increases as the solar radiation grows. Under the forced convection condition, the temperature of solar cell decreases with increasing the air flow rate at the same solar radiation. The mirror surface stainless steel reflector can be as fins, the air flowing in the up channel can decrease the temperature more than the air in the back channel. The concentrating photovoltaic system with the back channel is suit for the photovoltaic/thermal system because of it`s lower heat loss and less airproof.