A design for a photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) assembly with a water-cooled heat sink was planned, constructed, and experimentally evaluated in the climatic conditions of the southern region of Iraq during the summertime. The water-cooled heat sink was applied to thermally manage the PV cells, in order to boost the electrical output of the PVT system. A set of temperature sensors was installed to monitor the water intake, exit, and cell temperatures. The climatic parameters including the wind velocity, atmospheric pressure, and solar irradiation were also monitored on a daily basis. The effects of solar irradiation on the average PV temperature, electrical power, and overall electrical-thermal efficiency were investigated. The findings indicate that the PV temperature would increase from 65 to 73 °C, when the solar irradiation increases from 500 to 960 W/m2, with and without cooling, respectively. Meanwhile, the output power increased from 35 to 55 W when the solar irradiation increased from 500 to 960 W/m2 during the daytime. The impact of varying the mass flow rate of cooling water in the range of 4 to 16 L/min was also examined, and it was found that the cell temperature declines as the water flow increases in intensity throughout the daytime. The maximum cell temperature recorded for PV modules without cooling was in the middle of the day. The lowest cell temperature was also recorded in the middle of the day for a PVT solar system with 16 L/min of cooling water.
Convection heat transfer in a horizontal channel provided with metal foam blocks of two numbers of pores per unit of length (10 and 40 PPI) and partially heated at a constant heat flux is experimentally investigated with air as the working fluid. A series of experiments have been carried out under steady state condition. The experimental investigations cover the Reynolds number range from 638 to 2168, heat fluxes varied from 453 to 4462 W/m2, and Darcy number 1.77x10-5, 3.95x10-6. The measured data were collected and analyzed. Results show that the wall temperatures at each heated section are affected by the imposed heat flux variation, Darcy number, and Reynolds number variation. The var
... Show MoreAim of the research is the study of improving the performance of the thermal station south Baghdad and the main reasons for reduced its efficiency. South Baghdad power planet comprises (6) steam turbine units and (18) gas turbine units .The gas turbine units are composed of two groups: the first group is made up of gas units (1,2), each of capacity (123) MW. The design efficiency of gas turbine units is 32%. The actual efficiency data of steam units is 18.3% instead of 45% which is the design efficiency. The main reason for efficiency reduction of gas units is the rejected thermal energy with the exhaust gases to atmosphere, that are (450-510) ℃.The bad type of fuel used (heavy) fuel. Another reason for the low efficiency and has a neg
... Show MoreThis paper aims to study the effect of circular Y-shaped fin arrangement to improve the low thermal response rates of a double-tube heat exchanger containing Paraffin phase change material (PCM). ANSYS software is employed to perform the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations of the heat exchanger, including fluid flow, heat transfer, and the phase change process. The optimum state of the fin configuration is derived through sensitivity analysis by evaluating the geometrical parameters of the Y-shaped fin. For the same height of the fins (10 mm), the solidification time is reduced by almost 22%, and the discharging rate is enhanced by almost 26% using Y-shaped fins compared with the straight fins. The results demonstrate that the sol
... Show MoreIn this study, thermal characteristics of a two-phase closed heat pipe were investigated experimentally and theoretically. A two-phase closed heat pipe (copper container, Fluorocarbon FC-72 (C6F14) working fluid) was fabricated to examine its performance under the effect of input heat flux range of 250–1253 W/m2 , 70% fill charge ratio and various tilt angles. The temperature distribution along the heat pipe, input heat to evaporator section, and output heat from condenser were monitored. A comprehensive mathematical model was developed to investigate the steadystate heat transfer performance of a two-phase closed heat pipe. A steady state analytical model, is presented to determine important parameters on the design of two-phase close
... Show MoreA field experiment was carried out in one of the orchards of Al-Qassim district in Babel Governorate to find out the ability of a locally manufactured platform to serve palm trees by working in flat and uneven orchard land, palm tree heights of 4, 8, and 12 meters, and it performs pollination, pruning and harvesting services. The time of ascent and descent, the palm service, and the palm/hour productivity were measured. A randomized complete block design with three replications used a split split-plot arrangement. The nature of the land (flat or uneven) represented the main plots, the height of the palm trees (4, 8, 12) meters, the sub-plots, and the palm service operations (pollinati
This paper presents a computer simulation model of a thermally activated roof (TAR) to cool a room using cool water from a wet cooling tower. Modeling was achieved using a simplified 1-D resistance-capacitance thermal network (RC model) for an infinite slab. Heat transfer from the cooling pipe network was treated as 2-D heat flow. Only a limited number of nodes were required to obtain reliable results. The use of 6th order RC-thermal model produced a set of ordinary differential equations that were solved using MATLAB - R2012a. The computer program was written to cover all possible initial conditions, material properties, TAR system geometry and hourly solar radiation. The cool water supply was considered time
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