Plate micro-fins in natural convection: an opportunity for passive concentrating photovoltaic cooling

The raise in temperature is a. non-negligible issue for concentrating photovoltaics (CPV), where the sunlight is concentrated up to thousands of times and a large amount of heat is collected on the solar cells. Micro-fins have been identified as one of the most promising solution for CPV cooling: despite its potentials, the number of publications On this subject is still limited. The present paper resumes the state-of-the-art of the research on micro-fins, in order to identify the most convenient fin geometry for CPV applications. The results of the investigation conducted in this work show-that, compared to a conventional heat sink, micro-fins can improve the thermal performance and, at the same time, lower the weight of a system. For this reason., they are particularly beneficial for tracked systems, such as (TV, where a reduced weight means a reduced load for the tracker. The beat transfer coefficients measured through an experimental setup are used to predict the performance of a micro-finned CPV system in natural convection: an optimized fin. array is found able to enhance the mass specific power-up to 50% compared to an unfinned surface. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.