cfd simulation of photovoltaic thermal (pv/t) cooling system with various channel geometries

Photovoltaic/thermal (pv/t) is a solution for solar energy conversion devices to increase their efficiency. one of the challenges of pv/t is maintaining the temperature at optimal working conditions. various studies have been conducted to improve pv/t performance, one of which is through the design of thermal collectors on pv/t. in this study, computational fluid dynamics (cfd) simulations were conducted using four different types of channels: circular, hexagonal, semi-circular, and square. the channels were made with the same tube cross-sectional area and mass flow rate of 0.0016 m2 and 0.0096 kg/s, respectively. the simulation results show that the circular channel numerically gives the lowest pv cell temperature, 317.95 k, with an electrical efficiency of 14.70% and a thermal efficiency of 44.18%. this is because the water velocity in the circular channel can be faster than the other channels.  the circular channel has a thinner boundary layer, so the velocity is maximized, and the heat transfer rate increases.