The Application of Computational Fluid Dynamics to Predict the Performance of Phase Change Materials for Control of Photovoltaic Cell Temperature in Buildings

摘要

A novel temperature-based numerical simulation model has been developed to predict the thermal performance of phase change materials (PCM) when integrated with photovoltaics (PV). The application of a PCM to moderate PV cell temperatures, and store heat were investigated with the numerical model. The preliminary results derived from the numerical simulation including the effect on PV cell temperature of selected PCM material and dimension of PCM container are presented.