Experimental study of the effect of inclination angle on the thermal performance of heat pipe photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) systems with wickless heat pipe and wire-meshed heat pipe

Hu, Mingke; Zheng, Renchun; Pei, Gang; Wang, Yunyun; Li, Jing; Ji, Jie

Abstract

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Two different heat pipe photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) systems, namely, wickless heat pipe PV/T system and wire-meshed heat pipe PV/T system, were proposed. In this paper, the thermal performances of the two systems working on different inclination angles were experimentally investigated in an Enthalpy Difference Laboratory with a solar simulator. The thermal performance of the wire-meshed heat pipe is not as sensitive to the inclination angle as that of the wickless heat pipe. The wickless heat pipe PV/T system is recommended at latitudes higher than 20° whereas wire-meshed heat pipe PV/T system is suggested at latitudes lower than 20°. Moreover, the thermal performances of both PV/T collectors at an inclination angle of 40° were further investigated, in which case both heat pipes worked at optimum conditions. The thermal efficiency of the wickless heat pipe PV/T system and wire-meshed heat pipe PV/T system at zero reduced temperature was 52.8% and 51.5%, respectively.

Citation

Hu, M., Zheng, R., Pei, G., Wang, Y., Li, J., & Ji, J. (2016). Experimental study of the effect of inclination angle on the thermal performance of heat pipe photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) systems with wickless heat pipe and wire-meshed heat pipe. Applied thermal engineering, 106, 651-660. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2016.06.003

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 1, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jun 1, 2016
• Publication Date: Aug 5, 2016
• Deposit Date: Mar 24, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: May 26, 2022
• Journal: Applied Thermal Engineering
• Print ISSN: 1359-4311
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 106
• Pages: 651-660
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2016.06.003
• Keywords: Heat pipe; Inclination angle; PV/T; Solar energy; Thermal efficiency
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3602677