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A modified exergy evaluation of using carbon-black/water/EG nanofluids as coolant of photovoltaic modules

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Abstract

To provide the progressive global demand for energy, the use of renewable energies is being rapidly developed. Since solar radiation is available in most parts of the earth, the photovoltaic (PV) power plant is one of the worthwhile solutions. As a deficiency, temperature rise in photovoltaic cells leads to a drop in their electrical output power. In this experimental study, the circulation of carbon black nanofluid was investigated as a coolant of PV modules. Both water and ethylene glycol (EG) were used as the base fluids. It is found that all modified cases generate more output power than the conventional one. For instance, water + carbon nanofluid yields 54% more output power compared with the conventional one. To make a real assessment of using nanofluid as a coolant, the electrical consumption by pump and fan must be counted. Therefore, in this study, the net output power is calculated. In the cases of EG and EG + carbon, the net output powers get lower than the conventional module. So, they are not justifiable. In this paper, a modified formula is proposed to calculate the exergy efficiency, in order to achieve more accurate results. Accordingly, from an exergy viewpoint, 16.3% and 4.5% in electrical and thermal exergy efficiencies are achieved, when water + carbon nanofluid was used. Moreover, the values of entropy generation and lost exergy were reported for all considered cases.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

A:

Area (m2)

Cp :

Specific heat (J kg−1 K−1)

EX:

Exergy (W)

FF:

Fill factor

G:

Solar irradiation (W m−2)

h:

Heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

I:

Current (A)

P:

Power (W)

PV:

Photovoltaic

PV/T:

Photovoltaic thermal

Q̇:

Heat emitted to the surrounding (W)

S:

Entropy generation (W K−1)

T:

Temperature (℃)

V:

Voltage (V)

ΔT:

Temperature difference (℃)

Pf :

Packing factor

Cf :

Conversion factor

ṁ:

Flow rate of circulating nanofluid (kg s−1)

f:

Fluid

η:

Energy efficiency (%)

Ψ:

Exergy efficiency (%)

ρ:

Density (kg m−3)

v:

Kinematic viscosity (m2 s−1)

ϕ:

Mass concentration (%)

amb:

Ambient

cell:

Cell

i:

Input

o:

Output

mp:

Maximum power

OC:

Open circuit

SC:

Short circuit

sun:

Sun

th:

Thermal

sky:

Sky

m:

Module

el:

Electrical

Lost:

Lost

gen:

Generate

net:

Net

pump:

Pump

np:

Nanoparticle

nf:

Nanofluid

bf:

Base fluid

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jundi-Shapur University of Technology, Dezful, Iran

    Amir Hossein Shiravi & Mohammad Firoozzadeh

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    Mohammad Passandideh-Fard

Authors
  1. Amir Hossein Shiravi
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  2. Mohammad Firoozzadeh
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  3. Mohammad Passandideh-Fard
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Contributions

A. H. Shiravi: Supervision, writing-review & editing, funding acquisition, and project administration.

M. Firoozzadeh: Investigation, methodology, and writing-original draft.

M. Passandideh-Fard: Visualization and writing-review & Editing.

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Correspondence to Amir Hossein Shiravi.

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Shiravi, A.H., Firoozzadeh, M. & Passandideh-Fard, M. A modified exergy evaluation of using carbon-black/water/EG nanofluids as coolant of photovoltaic modules. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 57603–57617 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19769-9

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