Application of Copper Oxide Nanofluid and Phase Change Material on the Performance of Hybrid Photovoltaic-Thermal (PVT) System

The objective of the study is to investigate the thermal, electrical, and exergetic performance of a hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) system under the influence of copper oxide (CuO) nanofluid and phase change material (Vaseline (petroleum jelly)) as a heat storage medium. A mathematical model was developed with the help of various energy-balance equations over the layers of the hybrid system. The performance evaluation of the PVT system was performed using pure water, CuO-water nanofluid (0.2 and 0.4% weight fractions), and CuO-water nanofluid 0.4% weight fraction with Vaseline as a phase change material. The results of the overall analysis show that the performance of the PVT system is better using CuO-water nanofluid (0.4% wt. fraction) with PCM as compared to the water-cooled PVT system and CuO-water nanofluid. The results obtained from the study show indicate that the cell temperature of PVT was reduced by 4.45% using nanofluid cooling with PCM compared to a water-cooled PVT system. Moreover, the thermal, electrical, and overall efficiencies improved by 6.9%, 4.85%, and 7.24%, respectively, using 0.4% wt. fraction of CuO-water nanofluid with PCM as compared to PVT water-cooled systems. The performance of the PVT system was also investigated by changing the mass flow rate (MFR). The increase in mass flow rate (MFR) from 0.05 kg/s to 0.2 kg/s tends to enhance the electrical and overall efficiencies from 12.89% to 16.32% and 67.67% to 76.34%, respectively, using 0.4% wt. fraction of CuO-PCM as fluid.