Improving efficiency of high-concentrator photovoltaics by cooling with two-phase forced convection

The potential of increasing high-concentrator photovoltaic cell efficiency by cooling with two-phase flow is analyzed. The governing energy equations were used to predict cell temperature distributions and cell efficiencies for a photovoltaic cell under 100 suns' concentration. Several design conditions were taken into consideration in the analysis, including cooling channel height, working fluid type (between water and R134a), working fluid inlet temperature, pressure, and mass flow rate. It was observed that the dominant parameter for increasing cell efficiency was the working fluid saturation temperature, which itself is affected by a number of the aforementioned design parameters. The results show R134a at low inlet pressures to be highly effective in this two-phase cooling design.