Results of Study of Photovoltaic Thermal Battery Based on Thin-Film Module by Modeling and Computational Methods

Abstract

This article presents the results of model studies of a photovoltaic thermal battery (PVTB) based on a thinfilm cadmium telluride (CdTe) module depending on the influence of environmental parameters: solar radiation, air temperature, wind speed on the heating temperature of PVTB elements. A heat transfer scheme in PVTB elements, a mathematical model of heat balance processes and a program in the algorithmic Python language for calculating thermal and energy parameters were developed. The equations of thermal balances were solved in the static state of the installation using the numerical method of Gauss-Seidel iterations. To validate the model, the calculated simulation results were compared with experimental data. A comparison of the values of the corresponding parameters is presented in graphical images. The adequacy of the model was verified by the method of "assessment of agreement and standard deviation". The following values of RMSE and determination coefficients were calculated for the parameters, respectively, for the temperature of the photovoltaic cell, liquid and electrical efficiency R2=0.88, for thermal efficiency and power R2=0.99, for power RMSE=2.56 W, RMSE deviation 5.72%. Using the SolidWorks Flow Simulation software was performed CFD PVTB modeling, simulating the temperature dynamics of glass, PV and absorber depending on environmental factors and the temperature dynamics of cooling water circulating in a copper heat exchanger. The values of the parameters obtained from CFD modeling correspond to the experimental data. The considered modeling methods make it possible to calculate the thermal and energy parameters of PVT installations at the engineering design stage.