Optimization and analysis of different extension strategies of the MF-PCM radiator for concentrating photovoltaic thermal management

The phase change material (PCM) radiator has good temperature control ability in photovoltaic thermal management. The cooling capacity of these PCM radiators can be further improved by adding metal foam. In this study, numerical simulations were conducted to optimize and analyze different extension strategies of a metal foam composite PCM (MF-PCM) radiator to cooling the concentrating photovoltaic systems. Seven extension methods were investigated to select the optimal method, and five extension sizes were studied the impacts on the liquid fraction of the PCM. The average temperature and temperature uniformity of photovoltaic cells were comprehensively evaluated. The results showed that among the seven extension methods examined, although the upper and lower equal proportion extension did not significantly reduce the average temperature of photovoltaic cell, provided more uniform longitudinal thermal diffusion of the photovoltaic panel along the radiator. This method reduced the temperature uniformity index by 77.72 %, and achieved the best temperature uniformity. Moreover, compared to the initial size, when the extension size is 0.6x, the temperature uniformity is slightly reduced, but the average temperature of the cell is also reduced by 24.22 %. In summary, the MF-PCM radiator has the best extension strategy when using the upper and lower equal proportion extension method with an extension size of 0.6x.