Statistical study of a solar nanofluid photovoltaic thermal collector performance using response surface methodology

Cooling PV cells is an important requirement to prevent any loss performance of PV cell and any reduction of their lifespan. Therefore, using nanofluid as working fluid in a PVT collector has become attractive due to the significant improvement in heat transfer properties as compared to conventional fluids. For the first time, this work introduces a novel statistical model by applying the response surface methodology (RSM) method to examine the electrical and thermal efficiencies of behavior of a nanofluid photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collector. The developed statistical model correlates the efficiencies of the solar collector with the operational parameters, including the heat transfer coefficient by conduction between the PV module and the absorber plate, the mass flow rate, the concentration of Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and the tubes number. An excellent correlation is achieved between the foretold results derived from the statistical model and numerical simulation of the heat transfer model. The coefficient of determination (R-2) for thermal and electrical efficiencies are 0.9888 and 0.9908, respectively. The outcomes show that the heat transfer coefficient by conduction between the PV and the absorber, the mass flow rate are notable factors compared to concentration of ZnO nanoparticles and the tube number.