Impact of porous media on PV/thermal system performance: A short review

Modern technological developments and intensive research efforts have primarily fueled the worldwide interest in solar energy. The risks that conventional energy sources pose to both human health and the environment are what have driven this change. Various solar energy solutions are available today, such as solar collectors, PV panels, solar ponds, solar chimneys, solar stills and Trombe walls. The current article aims to study the impact of porous media on the performance of Thermal solar systems, including steel foam, aluminium foam, wood, gravel, metal foam, metal balls, and glass balls. The study reviewed the most important published research that conducted analytical and experimental studies to maintain the low operating temperature as much as possible because it had a significant impact on improving efficiency, as one of the proposed methods is the use of porous media and through the results obtained indicate a significant increase in efficiency in one of the studies the addition of porous medium led to a decrease in the temperature of the photovoltaic cell by 5 to 25 degrees Celsius and the overall efficiency increased from 10% to 28%. In contrast, the electrical efficiency increased from 1% to 4%. The result of another experimental work was a decrease in the temperature of the device between 3.9 and 18.3, an increase in energy consumption by 6.6%, improved Electrical efficiency by 2.7%in another research, the solar energy efficiency of a solar distiller using oyster shells as a porous medium was 0.73% and 1.2%.