Browsing by Author "Kumar, Ramesh"

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    Hybrid photovoltaic-thermoelectric system: Economic feasibility analysis in the Atacama Desert, Chile
    (2022) Montero, Francisco J.; Kumar, Ramesh; Lamba, Ravita; Escobar, Rodrigo A.; Vashishtha, Manish; Upadhyaya, Sushant; Guzman, Amador M.
    Desert areas are the favorable geographical locations for desired solar resource and temperature variations for improving the performance of hybrid photovoltaic-thermoelectric generator (HPV-TEG) systems. Therefore, economic feasibility analysis of HPV-TEG system is carried out under real environment and market conditions for the Atacama Desert, Chile. The thermal, electrical and economic models of HPV-TEG system are developed and analyzed in MATLAB. Five different possible scenarios are considered for economic feasibility based on energy losses, system costs, nominal efficiencies of TEG and photovoltaic module and their contribution in the economic feasibility of HPV-TEG system is identified and payback period for all scenarios is determined at minimum and maximum PV temperatures for Atacama Desert including residential and industrial electricity prices. The results showed that with existing market costs and TEG efficiency, HPV-TEG system could not be economically competitive with photovoltaic system for environmental conditions of the Atacama Desert. However, the calculated levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of the HPV-TEG system is 0.071 USD/kWh which is relatively close to current LCOEs for PV systems in Chilean energy market. Further, LCOE analysis economically quantifies the advantages of HPV-TEG system over PV system and opens the possibility for HPV-TEG systems to be competitive in desert locations. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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    Radiative cooling system integrated with heat sink for the thermal management of photovoltaic modules under extreme climate conditions
    (2023) Kumar, Ramesh; Montero, Francisco J.; Rehman, Tauseef-ur; Lamba, Ravita; Vashishtha, Manish; Upadhyaya, Sushant
    Suitable thermal management of photovoltaic (PV) modules can increase their efficiency. Alongside, the extra amount of energy needed for their thermal management should also be minimized to improve the overall efficiency of the PV system. This leads to exploring passive thermal management techniques. Recently, radiative cooling (RC) has been explored widely as a passive thermal management technique for PV systems. This paper explores radiative cooling and heat sink (HS) as passive methods for thermal regulation of the photovoltaic systems to get lower and uniform temperature distribution along the PV module. A comprehensive two-dimensional model of the proposed system is developed and analyzed in commercial COMSOL Multiphysics software. The governing equations are solved numerically using finite element methods, and simulations are carried out. Four different configurations, namely Case-0: photovoltaic-only system, Case-1: photovoltaic + heat sink, Case-2: photovoltaic + radiative cooling, and Case-3: photovoltaic + heat sink + radiative cooling systems, are considered in this analysis. The performance of four cases has been compared regarding PV temperature reduction, power output, and conversion efficiency. The performance analysis is carried out for the climatic conditions of the Atacama Desert. The results indicated that the photovoltaic + heat sink + radiative cooling system, i.e., Case-3, is the most efficient among all cases. The reduction in the maximum PV operating temperature and improvements in the maximum PV power output and minimum PV conversion efficiency of the photovoltaic + heat sink + radiative cooling system compared to that of the photovoltaic system alone are 6.63%, 8.57%, and 11.11%, respectively. The findings of this study can be used to effectively design the cooling system for the thermal management of photovoltaic modules installed in desert locations.
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    Thermal management of photovoltaic-thermoelectric generator hybrid system using radiative cooling and heat pipe
    (2023) Kumar, Ramesh; Montero, Francisco J.; Lamba, Ravita; Vashishtha, Manish; Upadhyaya, Sushant
    Temperature regulation of photovoltaic modules is crucial for improving their efficiency. Nowadays, radiative cooling is a widely adopted passive thermal management technique for photovoltaic systems. Heat pipe and radiative cooling are two primary passive photovoltaic cooling methods employed in photovoltaic-thermoelectric generator hybrid systems. Therefore, this study proposes a novel photovoltaic-heat pipe-thermoelectric generator-radiative cooling hybrid system by applying heat pipe and radiative cooling simultaneously to control the temperature of the photovoltaic-thermoelectric generator hybrid system. A detailed computational model of the proposed system is developed and analyzed in the COMSOL Multiphysics. A comparative analysis of the photovoltaic module temperature drop and its efficiency enhancement between the proposed and the reference system consisting of only a photovoltaic module is performed. The effects of solar radiation, ambient tempera-ture, and wind speed on both systems are studied under the Atacama Desert and Las Vegas climatic conditions. This proposed configuration reduced the photovoltaic temperature by efficiently evacuating its residual heat using a heat pipe and then rejecting it to the atmosphere using a radiative cooler. Results show that in contrast to the reference system, the proposed system reduced the average photovoltaic operating temperature by 2 degrees C for both the summer and winter seasons of the Atacama Desert and by 13 degrees C for Les Vegas. The maximum and minimum reductions of the photovoltaic temperature in the proposed system, as compared to the reference system, are 4 degrees C and 1.5 degrees C respectively, in June and 9 degrees C and 1 degrees C respectively, in January for the Atacama Desert. The maximum PV conversion efficiency and energy production improvements as compared to the reference system are 0.8% & 1.03% respectively, (for summer), and 0.3% & 0.94% respectively, (for winter) for the Atacama Desert, and 1.8% & 7.2% respectively, for the Las Vegas environment. The expected range of LCOE for a hybrid PV-HP-TEG-RC system is found to be between 0.065-0.089 USD/kWh. This study can help in improving the energy conversion efficiency by controlling the photovoltaic temperature using passive cooling methods in harsh environmental conditions such as the desert locations.