Improving the thermal regulation and efficiency enhancement of PCM-Integrated PV modules using nano particles

In integrated Photovoltaic (PV) systems, integrating the back side of the PV module with building wall insulate it from the surrounding air causing a dramatically increase of the PV temperature. The increase of the PV temperature causes a substantial decrease of its efficiency and output power. The idea of the present work is the investigation of the thermal regulation and efficiency enhancement of PV-building integrated system using phase change materials (PCM) and Al2O3 nanoparticles. The approach of the study is experimentally testing three separate PV modules integrated with building wall, pure PCM and PCM/Al2O3 nanoparticles compound at the same time and location. Temperatures distributions, open-circuit voltage, short- circuit current, output power and the modules efficiencies were recorded and analyzed. The results show that (i) integrating the PCM to the back side of the integrate PV modules regulates the module temperature and improves its efficiency, (ii) adding Al2O3 nanoparticles to the PCM further increase the possibility of the temperature regulation and the thermal efficiency of the integrated modules, and (iii) integrating the PV with pure PCM and enhanced PCM by nanoparticles can drop the temperature of the modules by 8.1 and 10.6 °C and increase its efficiency by 5.7 and 13.2%, respectively.