Photovoltaic panel thermal management utilizing solid-solid phase change material and aluminum fins
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THERMAL SCIENCES, cilt.230, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 230
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2026.111160
- Dergi Adı: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THERMAL SCIENCES
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Compendex, INSPEC, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Engineering Source (EBSCO)
- Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
In recent years, there has been growing interest in renewable energy generation and photovoltaic panels are used to generate electricity from solar energy, but their efficiency in electrical conversion remains low due to high working temperatures. A notable approach for thermal management involves the use of phase change materials. Solid-solid phase change materials offer a more effective alternative due to their higher heat absorption capacity, better shape retention, and improved thermal stability compared to solid-liquid phase change materials. This study explores the experimental and numerical investigation of incorporating solid-solid phase change materials into photovoltaic panels. Various configurations of solid-solid phase change materials and effect of aluminum fin utilization are numerically evaluated to enhance the photovoltaic panel performance. The results demonstrate that integrating solid-solid phase change materials with photovoltaic panels improved their performance, reducing the average temperature of the PV panel top surface by 9.74%. The optimal design, using a phase change material with a 40 mm thickness, increased the average electrical efficiency of the photovoltaic panel from 9.05% to 9.27%. Aluminum fin boosts the effect of solid-solid phase change material integration and leads to 9.28% average efficiency using 25% less phase change material compared to optimum case without fins.