Heat transfer enhancement in a hybrid microchannel-photovoltaic cell using Boehmite nanofluid

Experiments were conducted to investigate the cooling performance of water-based Boehmite (AlOOH · xH2O) nanofluid in a hybrid photovoltaic (PV) cell. A Perspex plate consists of 40 parallel rectangular microchannels with a hydraulic diameter of 783 μm, a length of 24 cm, a width of 1.8 mm and a depth of 500 μm attached to the back of the cell. Cooling performances of water, as the base fluid, and three different concentrations of nanofluid (0.01, 0.1 and 0.3 wt.%) were compared. The nanofluid thermal performance has been assessed from the obtained results for outlet flow temperature and the average PV surface temperature. The average PV surface temperature decreased from 62.29 °C to 32.5 °C at zero and 300 ml/min of flow rate for 0.01 wt.% nanofluid, respectively. Moreover, the highest improving in the electrical efficiency was achieved about 27% for 0.01 wt.% concentration of the nanofluid at this flow rate.