The energetic performance of autonomous solar powered refrigerator is analyzed. In this refrigerator, the solar energy is converted into electrical energy by a photovoltaic (PV) array, then the generated electrical energy is used to power a vapor – compression system which produces cooling energy at its evaporator. The evaporator is sunk to the water so that produced cooling energy is used to formation water ice, thus accumulates cooling energy in the form of ice. While, compressor is working during the daylight hours, cooling energy is produced. During the night, the cooling energy comes from latent heat of fusion of ice which is collected in day time. The results of experiments showed that not only the solar energy has influence on the energetic performance of solar refrigerator but ambient temperature is also crucial factor in this case.
Silicon based photovoltaic modules (PV) are a wide spread technology and are used for small and large PV power stations. At the moment, the most efficient method which can be used to improve the annual electrical energy production of PVs is solar tracking systems. However, solar tracking systems increase substantially the initial cost of the investment and insert maintenance costs. During the last few decades, alternative improving methods have been investigated. These methods are based on the reduction of the PV cell temperature, which adversely affects the power production. In the present study, a system with water based photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) collector paired with geothermal heat exchanger (GHE) is compared on the electrical energy basis with a conventional PV system. As the first approach on the topic, the aim is to find out in which extent the PVT-GHE system improves the electrical energy generation by cooling down the PV cells and which parameters influence the most its energy performance. With this aim in mind, the model of the system with the PV, PVT, and GHE was formulated in TRNSYS and validated via experimental data. Meteorological data for Athens (Greece) were used and parametric analyses were conducted. The results showed that the PVT based system can increase the generated electricity from 0.61 to 5.5%. The flowrate, the size of the GHE and the number in-series connected PVTs are the parameters which influence the most the energy performance of the system.
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