Solar Energy 183 (2019) 632–652

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Solar Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Thermal management of concentrator photovoltaic systems using new T

configurations of phase change material heat sinks
Ramy Rabiea,e, Mohamed Emamb, Shinichi Ookawaraa,c, Mahmoud Ahmeda,d,
⁎

a
Department of Energy Resources Engineering, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), Alexandria 21934, Egypt
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Shoubra, Benha University, Benha, Qalubiya 11629, Egypt
c
Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan
d
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut 71516, Egypt
e
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: A new concentrator photovoltaic system integrated with phase change material heat sink is developed to achieve
Concentrator photovoltaic system low and uniform temperature distribution along the solar cell. The developed system includes a phase change
Thermal management material enclosure with different over height ratios, defined as the ratio between the over height length of the
Phase change material phase change material heat sink to the solar cell length. Subsequently, four different over height ratios of 0, 20,
Temperature uniformity
40, and 60 % along with three inclination angles of −45°, 0° and 45° at solar concentration ratios of 5 and 10 are
investigated. Thus, experimental and numerical investigations have been carried out to investigate the influence
of the over height ratio and inclination angle of the phase change material heat sink on the temperature dis-
tribution along the solar cell. To assess the performance of the suggested designs of heat sinks, a compendious
two-dimensional model of the concentrator photovoltaic cell layers combined with phase change material is
developed and numerically simulated. The numerical results are further validated with experimental measure-
ments. These measurements involve transient variation of liquid fraction and the evolution of the local tem-
perature during melting of RT35HC phase change material carried out at different inclination angles of −45°, 0°
and 45°. Results indicate that the influence of varying the over height ratio depends on the inclination angle of
PCM heat sink. It is found that at an inclination angle of −45° and a concentration ratio of 5, the peak cell
temperature reduces from 92 to 74 °C, and the temperature uniformity varies from 13.7 to 5.3 °C as the over
height ratio rises from zero to 60 %. However, at an inclination angle of 45° only, a slight reduction in the peak
cell temperature is observed along with a minor improvement of temperature uniformity. Results of the present
work can assist in the selection of appropriate phase change material -heat sink design for the required types of
solar concentrators.

1. Introduction
Since the oil crisis in the1970s, when photovoltaics (PV) were in-
troduced as an innovative and clean technique to convert solar irra-
diance directly to an electrical current, extensive research has been
directed to this field. This has resulted in a substantial cost reduction of
the PV per wattage from 200 $ in 1970 s to less than 0.5 $ in 2017
(Horowitz et al., 2017) and also boosted their electrical efficiency to
higher than 20 % compared to 2.0 % in 1950s (Hedayatizadeh et al.,
2013). However, the initial cost of PV systems is still high and remains a
significant roadblock to wide-spread utilization and impede competi-
tion with regular power generated from fossil fuels (Green, 2013).
Development of concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) systems helped
overcome the excessive cost of regular PV modules setup via employing
inexpensive optical light concentrators like mirrors or lenses. The key
advantage of using concentrators is their ability to gather the incident
solar irradiance from a wide area and concentrate that energy onto
small area. This intensely lowers the utilization of high-priced semi-
conductors materials in which the system cost is also reduced. In ad-
dition, CPV systems offer more advantages such as large electricity gain
compared to conventional PV systems, possibility of recycling the em-
ployed materials and reducing the use of toxic components related to
the manufacturing and disposal of PV cells.
Concentrator photovoltaic systems can be subjected to both low
concentrated solar irradiance (< 100 suns) and high concentrated solar
irradiance (> 100 suns) (Sarwar et al., 2014). Moreover, for crystalline

⁎
Corresponding author at: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut 71516, Egypt.
E-mail addresses: aminism@aun.edu.eg, mahmoud.ahmed@ejust.edu.eg (M. Ahmed).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.03.061
Received 26 November 2018; Received in revised form 9 March 2019; Accepted 15 March 2019
Available online 21 March 2019
0038-092X/ © 2019 International Solar Energy Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
R. Rabie, et al. Solar Energy 183 (2019) 632–652

Nomenclature β1 thermal expansion coefficient [1/K]

τj transmissivity of layers above the layer i
A area [m2] η efficiency
Amush mush zone constant [kg/m3 s] emissivity
a over height length (m) ω the uncertainty
BIPV building integrated photovoltaic μ viscosity [Pa s]
Cp specific heat [J/kg K] ρ density [kg/m3]
CR concentration ratio σ Stephan–Boltzmann constant 5.67 × 10−8 [W/m2 K4]
CPV concentrator photovoltaic δ thickness [m]
EVA ethylene vinyl acetate τ transmissivity
g gravity acceleration [m/s2] Θ inclination angle
G(t) concentrated solar irradiance [W/m2] Λ over height ratio
h heat transfer coefficient [W/m2 K]
href reference enthalpy [J/kg] Subscripts
H total enthalpy [J/kg]
K thermal conductivity [W/m K] amb ambient
L latent heat [J/kg] al aluminum
P pressure (Pa) conv convection
PV photovoltaic E EVA layer
PCM phase change material g glass
qi internal heat generation per unit volume [W/m3] l liquid
Sx source term in x direction m melting
Sy source term in y direction max maximum
t time [min] min minimum
T temperature [°C] rad radiation
TCE thermal conductivity enhancer ref reference
u, v velocity in x and y-direction respectively [m/s] s solid
V velocity [m/s] and volume [m3] sc solar cell
sky sky
Greek symbols T tedlar
th thermal
αi absorptivity of PV layer i wind wind
αl thermal diffusivity of liquid [m2/s] x x-direction
αs thermal diffusivity of solid [m2/s] y y-direction

silicon solar cells that are currently used in CPV, only 20 % of the
concentrated solar irradiance is converted into electricity while the
remainder is transformed into heat energy (Sharma et al., 2017), re-
sulting in excessive increase in the CPV cell temperature. This situation
reduces the electrical power production and may lead to permanent
damage of the cell especially at high concentration ratios. Conse-
quently, effective thermal management of concentrator photovoltaic
systems is a mandatory. Accordingly, many researchers have in-
vestigated and introduced various cooling techniques for CPV systems
and they recommend that a proper cooling method should maintain the
silicon cell layer at a reduced temperature to boost the electrical per-
formance of the system, protect the system from fast degradation due to
excessive thermal stresses and ensure temperature uniformity along the
CPV cell surface (Radwan et al., 2019; Radwan et al., 2018; Radwan
and Ahmed, 2017). In addition, it should exhibit low operating and
maintenance costs to make the CPV remain competitive with regular
flat PV (Browne et al., 2015). Another important fact is the usability of
the extracted thermal energy from the system. Several CPV cooling
techniques are available such as passive cooling techniques including
phase change material (PCM) and natural air circulation, active cooling
techniques including hydraulic cooling (Dong et al., 2018), spray
cooling (Nizetic et al., 2016) forced air convection and thermoelectric
(Peltier effect) cooling (Royne et al., 2005). The focus of the current
research is on passive cooling method by integrating PCM with CPV
systems. Phase change materials can absorb and release a huge quantity
of latent thermal energy at almost constant temperature during its
phase transition from solid to liquid or vice versa (Ahmed and Radwan,
2017; Radwan et al., 2017). Furthermore, PCM-based cooling systems
are noiseless, do not need power to operate and minimum maintenance
cost is needed compared to active cooling methods.
Numerous investigations have been conducted to evaluate the in-
corporation of PCM with the conventional flat PV systems under normal
operating conditions. Hasan et al. (2017) studied the integration of
paraffin PCMs of melting temperature (38–43) °C with flat PV panel in
dry hot weather of United Arab Emirates through the entire year. They
found that the PCM helped to enhance the PV annual electricity output
by about 5.9 % with a maximum decrease in the temperature of the cell
up to 13 °C. Moreover, Hasan et al. (2010) experimentally examined the
utilization of five different PCMs with melting temperatures of
25 ± 4 °C and latent heat ranging from 140 to 213 kJ/kg in cooling of
building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) systems. Results indicated that
PCM-based cooling of PV systems depend on thermal conductivity, la-
tent heat and thermal mass of the employed PCM. Stropnik and Stritih
(2016) numerically and experimentally studied the effect of in-
corporating PCM in flat PV on the output power and the electrical ef-
ficiency. They reported that the solar cell temperature decreased by
maximum of 35.6 °C using PCM. In addition, their results indicated that
about a 7.3 % increase in the annual electricity production was sus-
tained under the climate conditions of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Khanna
et al. (2018) examined the performance of PV integrated with PCM
under different climatic conditions. They reported a 9.7 % improve-
ment in electricity production for a climate with low variation in am-
bient temperature and a 6.7 % for a climate with large variation in
ambient temperatures.
The main obstacle of utilizing PCMs as a heat sink is their typically
low thermal conductivities that significantly limit their cooling per-
formance. Additionally, due to the melting behavior of PCMs, the hot
liquid phase is amassed at the top portion of the PCM container

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resulting in the formation of stratified liquid layers. This situation leads
to nonuniformity of the temperature variation along the CPV cell, and
eventually creates hot spots in the upper part of the solar cells.
Therefore, several techniques had been employed to improve the heat
transfer process in PCMs and in turn reduce the temperature non-
uniformity of the CPV-PCM system. Some researchers utilized thermal
conductivity enhancers (TCEs) such as metallic fins, nanoparticles, and
metal foams in boosting the performance of PCM-heat sinks used for
thermal energy storage and thermal management of CPV systems.
Kamkari and Shokouhmand (2014) experimentally investigated the
melting behavior of lauric acid (PCM) in a rectangular cavity with and
without partial metal fins. Their measurements revealed that increasing
the number of partial fins reduced the time required to reach the
complete melting phase and increased the total heat transfer rate inside
the PCM domain. Moreover, the thermally stratified part reduced as the
number of fins was raised in which the temperature uniformity was
enhanced. Modifying the PCM heat sink design is a promising way for
improving the thermal management of CPV systems. Emam and Ahmed
(2018a) proposed a new integrated CPV-PCM system to boost the
thermal conductivity via using various configurations of the PCM heat
sink and improve their cooling performance. They indicated that the
integrated CPV-PCM system with a five-parallel cavity configuration
heat sink attained the best CPV performance because of the enhanced
heat transfer inside the PCM domain. However, the used fins act like
obsticles to the natural flow of the liquid phase and possibly reduce its
natural convective heat transfer. In addition, fins occupy part of the
volume rather than the PCM resulting in the reduction of thermal
regulation period (Huang et al., 2011). Dhaidan et al. (2013) carried
out an experimental and numerical study to assess the effect of adding
cupric oxide (CuO) nanoparticles with different concentrations to n-
octadecane PCM on its thermal behavior during melting. It was con-
cluded that the nanoparticles loading showed an encouraging trend in
boosting the thermal conductivity of the PCM-nanoparticle composite
and rising the rate of heat transfer which resulted in reduction of the
charging time. Zarma et al. (2019) studied the influence of different
nanoparticles (Al2O3, CuO and SiO2) on the performance of a con-
centrator photovoltaic system. Their results concluded that PCM’s
thermal conductivity improved with the addition of Al2O3 which en-
hanced the heat transfer process, rate of melting, and consequently
decreases the solar cell temperature. Another experimental and nu-
merical study to assess thermal regulation of PV systems using PCM
infused with graphite in an externally-finned heat sink was accom-
plished by (Atkin and Farid, 2015). Their results indicated that the
thermal conductivity of PCM was improved from 0.25 W/m K to
16.6 W/m K due to the infusion of PCM into graphite along with the
attached fins. This increased the PV panel overall efficiency by about
13%. Zhu et al., (2018) examined the effect of filling height ratio and
pore size on the performance of PCM-heat sink filled with a copper
foam used for electronic devices cooling. They reported that a tem-
perature reduction of up to 40 % was achieved when two thirds of PCM
enclosure was filled with the copper foam with pore size of 15 pores per
inch (ppi) under heating power of 80 W. However, utilizing metal fins
or foams to enhance the heat transfer process inside the PCM domain
raised the system weight and cost.
On the other hand, other researchers enhanced the cooling perfor-
mance of PCMs via boosting natural convection currents during the
solid-liquid phase change process. Rabie et al. (2017) studied the
thermal behaviour of a CPV system integrated with a modified paral-
lelogram shaped PCM heat sink with those of a regular rectangular
shape. Their numerical results showed that the new design attained a
temperature reduction of up to 9 °C when compared to the system with
regular rectangular shape because of the enhanced heat transfer process
during melting of PCM. Emam et al. (2017a) numerically inspected the
thermal behavior and electrical performance of a CPV system integrated
with PCM at different inclination angles (−45° to 90°) and PCM
thickness (5 cm and 20 cm). They found that incorporating PCM with
634
Solar Energy 183 (2019) 632–652
CPV at an angle of 45° achieved the lowest solar cell temperature and
consequently the best electrical performance. However, an opposite
trend was observed at an inclination angle of −45° which showed the
highest temperature and the lowest electrical performance of the CPV-
PCM system. Additional investigation with respect to inventing novel
and efficient designs is essential to advance such integrated systems.
Based on the literature survey, it is concluded that a little research
works have been conducted to investigate the formation of stratified
liquid layers associated with the melting behaviour of PCMs. This es-
sentially causes a temperature nonuniformity along the solar cell and
generates potential hot spots in the upper part of the solar cells.
Therefore, in the current work, a novel design of CPV-PCM system is
suggested to attain low and uniform temperature distribution along the
solar cell. The developed system includes a PCM enclosure with dif-
ferent over height ratios (Λ). Thus, different over height ratios of 0, 20,
40, and 60 % with various inclination angles of −45°, 0° and 45° that
are appropriate for solar concentrators at solar concentration ratios
(CRs) of 5 and 10 are investigated. To assess the performance of the
new suggested design of heat sink, a comprehensive two-dimensional
(2-D) mathematical model for the CPV cell layers combined with PCM
was developed and numerically simulated.
The model can track the liquid-solid interface evolution and predict
the temperature field of the PCM and the solar cell. Based on the ob-
tained results, the over height ratio and inclination angle that showed
the best CPV performance are identified. To validate the developed
model at different inclination angles of CPV-PCM system, the effects of
the inclination angle on CPV-PCM systems performance are experi-
mentally investigated to identify the best orientation of such integrated
systems. Consequently, the thermal behaviour of the melting of
RT35HC-PCM at different inclination angles (Θ) of −45°, 0° and 45°
and a heat flux value of 3000 W/m2 are experimentally investigated.
The fabricated heat sink is attached to a silicon rubber heater to mimic
the heat dissipation from CPV cells in CPV-PCM systems.
2. Methodology
The current study starts with developing a comprehensive 2-D
model to assess the thermal behavior of a CPV-PCM system at different
over height ratios of 0, 20, 40, and 60 % with various inclination angles
of −45°, 0° and 45° at solar concentration ratios (CRs) of 5 and 10. This
model is able to elucidate the internal thermo-fluid phenomena during
melting of the PCMs that were not captured in the experiments. To
validate the developed model along with further exploration of the
effect of wall tilting angle on the temperature variation of a CPV-PCM
system, a fabricated PCM heat sink was attached to a silicon rubber
heater to emulate the heat dissipation from CPV cells. The system was
experimentally investigated at inclination angles of −45°, 0° and 45°
during melting of RT35HC-PCM at a heat flux value of 3000 W/m2.
2.1. Theoretical analysis
In this section, a comprehensive 2-D model for of CPV-PCM system
was developed to determine the transient average and local tempera-
ture variation of a solar cell at different operating conditions. Then,
numerical simulations were performed to determine the effects of
adding a mass of PCM over the solar cell height on cooling of the CPV
systems. This is accomplished through changing the PCM cavity over
height ratio, Λ while keeping the PCM volume and the solar cell height
constant. The over height ratio is calculated using Eq. (1) and expressed
as the ratio between the over height length of the PCM heat sink (a)
(which is defined as the distance between the end of the solar cell and
the end of PCM container) to the solar cell length (h). The model con-
siders these modifications in three different inclination angles of −45°
(heated side on top), 0° (vertical) and 45° (heated side on bottom) to
simulate possible orientations required for different types of solar
concentrators such as dish concentrator, compound parabolic trough
R. Rabie, et al. Solar Energy 183 (2019) 632–652

and Fresnel lens. Four different over height ratios of 0, 20, 40, and 60 % proposed CPV-PCM system are written as follows:
are investigated at each inclination angle under two distinct values of
CR of 5 and 10.
2.1.1. Photovoltaic layers and aluminum sheets
a Energy conservation in solid parts was written as (Emam and
=
h (1) Ahmed, 2018b):

A neat sketch of the CPV-PCM configuration considered in the present Ti (x , y ) 2T (x , y ) 2T (x , y)

work with geometrical variables and boundary conditions is depicted in
Fig. 1. In this study, a generic polycrystalline cell as defined by Sandia
national laboratory is investigated. The cell contains a silicon layer
encapsulated between two ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) sheets, a glass
cover at the top and a tedlar back sheet layer as shown in Fig. 1.
Moreover, it is directly connected to the PCM heat sink front surface
that is fabricated from 3 mm thick aluminum sheets. These aluminum
walls attain an even temperature distribution over the cell surface and
offer the capability to shield the PCM.
In the present study, the concentrated solar irradiance on the CPV-
PCM system is assumed to be equally distributed. This assumption is
considered in many previous literatures, for instance (Kant et al.,
2016a, 2016b; Radwan et al., 2016b; Zhou et al., 2015). However, in
the real case, the intensity distribution is expected to be slightly peaked
in the centre due to the optical design of concentrators. In authors’
opinions, this situation has a minimal consequence on the output results
particularly in the case of the cooled CPV systems. Furthermore, in the
case of the CPV-PCM system, an aluminum wall with high thermal
diffusivity was integrated with the rear side of the CPV cell to achieve
almost uniform flux distribution over the front surface of the system
and provided a high rate of heat transfer so that heat was absorbed
quickly from the CPV cell. This design will aid in minimizing the effect
of existing peak of solar intensity.
The developed model combines a heat conduction model for CPV
layers and a transient thermal fluid model that includes the phase-
change phenomenon using the enthalpy porosity formulation. In addi-
tion, the model can track the development of the transient liquid-solid
interface, the temperature field of the PCM during the melting process
and the temperature distribution of the CPV cell at different working
conditions. The governing equations for each component of the
i Cp, i = ki ( i 2 + i
) + qi where i = 1, 2, ..,n
t x y2
(2)
where Cp,i, ρi, Ti(x, y), ki and qi are the specific heat capacity (J/kg K),
density (kg/m3), temperature (°C), thermal conductivity (W/m °C) and
internal heat generation (W/m3) for layer i, respectively.
In each layer of the CPV cell, the absorbed solar irradiance can be
estimated using Eq. (3) and substituted in Eq. (2) as an internal heat
generation per unit volume of the layer i, qi.
(1 e )·G(t)· i· j ·Ai
qi =
Vi (3)
where: ηe represents the silicon cell layer electrical efficiency and equals
zero for other layers; G(t) is the incident solar irradiance (W/m2) and τj
represents the transmissivity of layers above layer i; Ai, αi and Vi are the
area (m2), absorptivity and volume (m3) of layer i, respectively. Further
explanations of the calculation of qi for each CPV layer are described in
(Emam and Ahmed, 2018a).
2.1.2. Phase change material
The enthalpy-porosity formulation is employed to model the PCM
melting process where the liquid fraction term (λ) is used to follow the
existence of liquid or solid phases. Appropriate source terms (Sx and Sy)
are substituted in momentum equations to model the velocity changes
from the stationary solid-phase region to the liquid-phase region. The
Boussinesq approximation is applied to include thermal buoyancy in
the liquid PCM. The 2-D transient analysis of phase change process is
written as follows (Brent et al., 1988; Pal and Joshi, 2001):
Continuity equation:

Fig. 1. A neat sketch of the studied CPV-PCM system.

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R. Rabie, et al. Solar Energy 183 (2019) 632–652

Table 1 numerically (Dhaidan et al., 2013).

Time step and mesh independence test.
Tm = Tsolidus Tliquidus (14)
Grid no. Time step Liquid fraction Average solar cell temperature (K)
Moreover, for the phase change materials utilized in the simulation and
49,408 0.2 0.484 356.51 experimental work (RT35 HC and RT44HC), the thermal conductivity is
94,062 0.2 0.518 350.89 constant for both the solid and the liquid phases according to the da-
165,912 0.2 0.532 348.2
165,912 0.1 0.532 348.6
tasheet of the manufacturer (“Rubitherm GmbH,” 2014). However, for
248,382 0.2 0.534 348.7 other PCM used in the validation with (Kamkari et al., 2014) results
(Lauric acid), the PCM thermal conductivity varies only from 0.16 W/m
k to 0.14 W/m K with the phase transition from solid to liquid phase. In
u
+
v
=0 that case, Eq. (13) is used to simulate this slight change.
x y (4) Finally, the uniformity index of solar cell, ΔT which is defined as the
difference between the local maximum and minimum temperature of
Momentum equations:
the solar cell is calculated using the following equation:
u u u 1 P µ 2u 2u
+u +v = + + + g (T Tref ) cos T = Tsc,max Tsc ,min (15)
t x y x x2 y2
+ Sx (5)
2.1.3. Initial and boundary conditions
v v v 1 P µ 2v 2v Initially, the system contains a solid PCM maintained at a tem-
+u +v = + + + g (T Tref ) sin + Sy perature (Tini) lower than the melting temperature (Tm) of the employed
t x y y x2 y2
PCMs, and equals to 25 °C. Furthermore, no-slip boundary conditions
(6) are considered at the solid-fluid interfaces. However, for all existing
1 (1 )2 solid-solid interfaces, a thermally coupled boundary condition is ap-
Sx = · 3 · Amush · u
( + ) (7) plied. The heat gained due to the absorbed solar irradiance of each
layer in the CPV cell is calculated using Eq. (3) and applied to the heat
1 (1 )2 transfer equation as internal heat generation, qi. In addition, adiabatic
Sy = · 3 · Amush · v
( + ) (8) boundary condition is applied on the upper and lower ends of the CPV-
PCM system, as shown in Fig. 1. A thermal boundary condition for the
where μ and ρ are the dynamic viscosity (Pa s) and the density (kg/m3)
front surface of the PV cell is combined convective and radiative losses.
of the liquid PCM, respectively; g, β and Θ are the gravitational accel-
The convective heat transfer coefficient, ambient temperature, surface
eration (m/s2), the thermal expansion coefficient (1/K) and the in-
external emissivity, and the external radiation temperature are accu-
clination angle; λ and Amush are the liquid fraction and the mushy zone
rately specified. The exterior back boundary is subjected to a convective
constant, respectively. More details in regard to Amush are defined
heat loss for the CPV-PCM system. In detail, the applied boundary
elsewhere (Emam and Ahmed, 2018a). During simulations Amush is as-
conditions for the front and exterior back surfaces can be expressed as
sumed to be 106. Finally, γ is a small number of 10−3 to circumvent
follows (Radwan and Ahmed, 2018; Soliman and Hassan, 2019; Xu and
division by zero.
Kleinstreuer, 2014):
Equation of energy for the liquid phase is written as follows:
On the front surface of the CPV cell:
H H H H H At: x = 0 and (0 ≤ y ≤ h)
+u +v = l + l
t x y x x y y (9) T
kg = hconv, g amb (Tamb Tg |x ) + hrad, g sky (Tsky Tg |x )
Equation of energy for the solid phase could be formulated as follows: x x (16)

H H H On the exterior back surface of the CPV-PCM system:

= s + s At: x = (δg + 2δE + δsc + δT + 2 δal + b) and 0 ≤ y ≤ (h + a)
t x x y y (10)
The enthalpy of the PCM, H (J/kg) is calculated as: T
kal = hconv, al amb (Tamb Tal |x )
x x (17)
T
H = href + cp dT + L
Tref (11) where δg, δE, δsc, δT and δal are the thickness of glass, EVA, silicon cell,
Tedlar and aluminum layers. Tamb is the ambient temperature, and it is
where href is the reference enthalpy at reference temperature Tref; L is
assumed to be 25 °C (298 K).
the latent heat of PCM (J/kg).
The convective heat transfer coefficient from the glass cover to the
The liquid fraction, λ, is defined as:
atmosphere (hconv,g-amb) due to the wind effect was estimated by the
H
=0 T Tm following correlation (Agrawal and Tiwari, 2011; Radwan et al., 2016a;
L
Rejeb et al., 2016; Soliman and Hassan, 2019):
H T - Tsolidus
= = T Tm < T < Tm + Tm
L liquidus - Tsolidus hconv, g amb = 5.82 + 4.07 Vwind (18)
H
=1 T Tm + Tm (12)
L where Vwind is the wind speed, which is considered to be 1 m/s through
The thermal conductivity is taken as the following: all simulations.
This correlation was developed based on the fundamentals of heat
ks T Tm transfer theory and wind tunnel measurements. In these tests, a heated
kpcm = (ks + kl )
Tm < T < Tm + Tm plate was placed outdoors, and the forced convective heat transfer
2
coefficient was correlated with the prevailing wind speed. The wind
kl T Tm + Tm (13)
speed was measured at 1.0 m higher than the heated plate. All constants
where Tm is the melting temperature of the PCM, and ΔTm is the phase in this equation have dimensions and the equation is valid for a wind
transition range which is defined as the difference between the liquidus speed up to 5 m/s.
and solidus temperatures as shown in Eq. (14). This modification is The radiative heat transfer coefficient between the glass cover and
necessary since melting at an exact temperature cannot be modelled the sky (hrad,g-sky) is obtained using the following equation, based on the

636
R. Rabie, et al.
assumption that the sky is a black body with a temperature Tsky (Emam
et al., 2017b; Rejeb et al., 2016, 2015):
hrad, g = (Tg2 + Tsky
2
)(Tg + Tsky ) Tg and Tsky are in (K)
sky g
where ɛg, σ are the emissivity of the glass cover and the Stefan-Boltz-
mann constant, respectively. The sky temperature Tsky is estimated
using the ambient temperature Tamb as follows (Rabie et al., 2017):
Tsky = Tamb 6 (20)
The values of CPV cell characteristics and design parameters used in the
current work are described elsewhere (Emam and Ahmed, 2018a).
2.1.4. Numerical method
The developed model combines a heat conduction model for CPV
layers and a transient thermal fluid model that includes the phase
change phenomenon using the enthalpy porosity formulation. The
model is numerically simulated using ANSYS FLUENT 17.2 as described
in detail (Emam and Ahmed, 2018b). The model characteristics are
carefully studied based on a mesh and time step independence test to
Fig. 2. (a) A neat sketch of the experimental setup, (b) Real photos of the PCM enclosure and (c) A three-dimensional schematic view of the enclosure assembly.
Solar Energy 183 (2019) 632–652
reach the predefined accuracy within a reasonable time. Thus, four
distinct grid sizes were tested with consideration to average solar cell
temperature and the liquid fraction as shown in Table 1 and a mesh size
(19)
of 165,912 is found to be the proper selection as increasing the grid size
to 248,382 elements showed a very small difference in the average
temperature as well as in the liquid fraction. A time step of 0.2 sec was
chosen after performing time step independence test of 0.2 and 0.1 s.
The tolerances were 10−5 for continuity and 10−6 for all the other
equations.
2.2. Experimental analysis
2.2.1. Experimental setup and procedures
The setup of the main components used in the current study is
schematically shown in Fig. 2. A rectangular cavity with internal di-
mension of 50 mm in width, 120 mm in height, and 100 mm in depth
was employed as the PCM container. A silicon rubber heater with a
maximum power density of 0.5 W/cm2 was used as a constant heat flux
source to imitate the heat dissipation from CPV cells in CPV-PCM
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Table 2
Thermo-physical properties for the employed PCMs, aluminum and plexiglass.
Thermo-physical properties RT35HC, for experiments and numerical RT44HC for experimental Aluminum Plexiglass
simulations validation

Melting temperature (range) (°C) 34–36 (main peak: 35) 41–44 (main peak: 43) N/A N/A
Heat of fusion (kJ/kg) 240 250 N/A N/A
Thermal conductivity
Solid (W/m °C) 0.2 0.2 211 0.19
Liquid (W/m °C) 0.2 0.2 N/A N/A
Density
Solid (kg/m3) 880 (at 25 °C) 800 (at 25 °C) 2675 1180
Liquid (kg/m3) 770 (at 40 °C) 700 (at 80 °C) N/A N/A
Specific heat capacity
Solid (kJ/kg K) 2 2 0.903 1.464
Liquid (kJ/kg K) 2 2 N/A N/A
Volumetric expansion, ΔV (1/kg) % 12 12.5 N/A N/A
Sub-cooling (°C) Negligible Negligible N/A N/A
Ref. (“Rubitherm GmbH,” 2014) (“Rubitherm GmbH,” 2014) (Kamkari and Groulx, (Kamkari and Groulx,
2018) 2018)

N/A: Not applicable.

Fig. 4. Measured and numerical results of liquid fraction variation during

melting of RT44HC PCM at a heat flux of 3750 W/m2.

Fig. 3. The evolution of solid-liquid interface and photographs of RT44HC PCM
melting at different times (heat flux = 3750 W/m2).
systems. Electrical power was supplied to the heater via a volt slider,
(AS ONE Corp., Model RSA-5, (“AS ONE,” 2018)), to control the
amount of heat flux, while the wall heat flux was detected using a heat
flux sensor (Captec Enterprise, HF-10, (“Captec - heat flux sensor,”
2018)). To mount the heater and attain uniform heat flux on the system
surface, the front wall of the enclosure was formed from a 10 mm. thick
high conductive aluminum plate (k = 218 W/m K). The remaining five
walls of the PCM containment were fabricated from 20 mm thick acrylic
clear Plexiglass clear plates. This is to facilitate visualization and pho-
tography of the PCM phase transition process and reduce heat loss to
the environment by their low thermal conductivity (k = 0.19 W/m K).
Acrylic plates were assembled together using M4 stainless steel bolts,
while silicon rubber thin sheets (0.5 mm thickness) were placed be-
tween the plates to prevent leakage. For further insulation, a 30 mm
thick foaming Urethane sheets (k = 0.026 W/m K) were used on all
sides of the enclosure with the aim of minimizing heat losses to the
environment.
Four calibrated K-type micro-thermocouples, (AS ONE Corp., Model
No. T1-SP-K, (“AS ONE,” 2018)), of 0.127 mm bare wire diameter were
utilized for measurement of temperatures. Three thermocouples were
attached to the front aluminum plate to measure the transient local
temperature variation of the system front wall as shown in Fig. 2. The
remaining thermocouple was located outside the test cell for recording
the ambient temperature. A multichannel temperature recorder was
employed to record the temperatures at every one second. During the
experiments, the melting of a commercially available PCM-RT35HC
(organic paraffin wax based) with a melting temperature of 35 °C was

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R. Rabie, et al.
Fig. 5. Measured and predicted results of the average front wall during melting
of RT44HC PCM at a heat flux of 3750 W/m2.
Fig. 6. Measured and predicted results of liquid fraction.
observed at different tilting angles of −45°, 0° and 45°. However,
RT44HC and RT35HC-PCMs were used to validate the developed model
with the current measurements and for numerical simulations, respec-
tively. The data sheet provided by the manufacturer (“Rubitherm
GmbH,” 2014) assures that the employed PCMs possesses a remarkable
latent heat capacity in narrow temperature ranges, a stable perfor-
mance throughout repeated phase change cycles and a negligible super-
cooling effect. Moreover, they are chemically inert, friendly to the en-
vironment, non-toxic, easy to handle, relatively low cost (about US$
7.5/kg), and have an unlimited lifetime. Table 2 lists the thermo-phy-
sical properties of the utilized PCM and other components.
Initially, the solid PCM was melted completely in a hot water bath
and then well stirred before being poured gradually into the container
in a layer by layer method to reduce the formation of air pockets inside
the solid PCM. A longitudinal hole (4 mm diameter) was drilled through
the upper wall of the enclosure to empty the excess liquid-PCM due to
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Fig. 7. Comparison of temperature at point A between experimental and pre-
dicted results.
the solid-liquid volume change during the melting process and to fa-
cilitate thermocouples fixation as shown in Fig. 2. The experiments
were initiated by supplying power to the electric heater via a volt slider
to adjust the heat flux value. Concurrently, the temperatures were
logged using the multichannel temperature recorder. Moreover, it is
worth mentioning that part of the insulation was periodically removed
for a time span of 8–9 s every 10 min from one side of the container and
photographs taken. This was to visualize and capture the liquid-solid
interface evolution and facilitate the calculation of liquid fraction of
PCM during melting process. The specifications and accuracy of the
employed instruments as reported in their datasheets are presented in
Appendix A (Table A.1).
2.3. Uncertainty analysis
The uncertainty in a derived parameter, X, due to the uncertainty in
the individual measured variables, x1, x2… xn, is referred to uncertainty
propagation. The total uncertainty in derived parameter X can be cal-
culated using the following expression (Radwan et al., 2018).
2 2 2
X 2 X 2 X 2
x = x1 + x2 + .......+ xn
x1 x2 xn (21)
where ωx is the uncertainty of the variable X; ωxn is the uncertainty in
parameter xn, and ∂X/∂x1 is the partial derivative of X with respect to
x1. The estimated uncertainty in temperature is ± 0.5 °C for the ther-
mocouples. The uncertainty in length, width and area are ± 0.1
mm, ± 0.1 mm and ± 4.1 mm2. The maximum value of uncertainty in
input heat flux is 4.5 %.
2.4. Model validations
Experimental measurements were carried out to test and validate
the developed model by comparing the numerically estimated results
with the current measurments and other available data for which the
same system geometry, boundary conditions, and material properties
were used. Initially, comparisons between the predicted results and the
current experimental measurments using RT44HC PCM are presented in
Figs. 3–5. The exterior surface of the front aluminum wall was kept at a
constant heat flux of 3750 W/m2, while the remaining walls of the
Plexiglass were insulated. Fig. 3 shows a comparison between the
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Fig. 8. Sequential photographs of the solid-liquid phase of RT35HC PCM for different orientation angles at a heat flux of 3000 W/m2 and Tamb = 25 °C.
estimated time of the liquid-solid interface evolution and experimental
images during melting of RT44HC PCM. Moreover, the predicted liquid
fraction variation versus time and the evolution of the average front
wall temperature during melting of RT44HC PCM at a heat flux value of
3750 W/m2 are compared with the measurements as shown in Figs. 4,
and 5, respectively. These comparisons show that the 2-D numerical
simulations of PCM melting correctly predicted both the liquid fraction
and the liquid-solid interface evolution along with the transient varia-
tion of front wall temperature. However, the sharp corners (at 60 min,
70 min, 80 min) do commonly appear while simulating the melting of
phase change materials using computational fluid dynamics commer-
cial packages as reported in previous studies (Zeng et al., 2017), and
(Kamkari and Amlashi, 2017). These differences have insignificant ef-
fect on the obtained results. In addition, comparisons between mea-
surements and predicted values of the liquid fraction and the transient
variation of front wall temperature in Figs. 4 and 5 confirm
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insignificance of the sharp corners. Furtheremore, the current estimated
results were compared with the corresponding experimental results of
(Kamkari and Shokouhmand, 2014) as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The
comparison includes the current predicted melting fraction variation
over time during melting of lauric acid (PCM) and the local temperature
at point (A). It is illustrated that the predicted results using the present
model are in good agreement with the obtained measurements and
those other measurements.
3. Results and discussion
This section comprises two main subsections. The first one reveals
the effects of the inclination angle on CPV-PCM systems performance
based on experiments to identify the best orientation of such integrated
systems. The melting of RT35HC PCM at various orientation angles (Θ)
of −45°, 0° and 45° and a heat flux value of 3000 W/m2 are
R. Rabie, et al.
Fig. 9. The solid-liquid interface evolution of RT35HC PCM with different orientation angles at a heat flux value of 3000 W/m2 and Tamb = 25 °C.
Fig. 10. Transient liquid fraction during melting of RT35HC PCM at different
orientation angles at a heat flux value of 3000 W/m2 and Tamb = 25 °C.
demonstrated. The second subsection demonstrates the effects of
changing the PCM enclosure over height ratio (Λ) on the thermal
management of the CPV systems. Distinct over height ratios of 0, 20,
40, and 60 % with inclination angles of −45°, 0° and 45° at a solar
concentration ratios (CRs) of 5 and 10 are inspected. Based on the
obtained results, the optimum inclination angle and over height ratio
that showed the best CPV performance are identified.
3.1. Experimental results
The orientation of solar cells is essential in CPV systems due to the
nature of various optical light concentrators such as parabolic dish/
trough concentrators (solar irradiance is reflected by the concentrator
to the solar cell) and Fresnel lens concentrators (solar irradiance is
refracted by the concentrator to the solar cell) (Browne et al., 2015).
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Fig. 11. Transient average hot wall temperature during melting of RT35HC at
different orientation angles at a heat flux value of 3000 W/m2 and
Tamb = 25 °C.
Therefore, the cooling technique of inclined solar cells has a wide
variety of applications in the solar power market. Accordingly, in-
vestigation of the inclination effect on the cooling of solar cells is ne-
cessary. In this aspect and for the first time, the effects of the inclination
angle on the performance of the CPV-PCM system with zero over height
ratio are experimentally investigated. Fig. 8 illustrates successive pho-
tographs of the solid-liquid phase change process of RT35HC PCM at
different inclination angles of heated side 0° (vertical), 45° (heated side
is down), and −45° (heated side is up) when a heat flux of 3000 W/m2
is applied on the system front wall and at an ambient temperature of
25 ± 1 °C. Based on the figure, some important observations can be
made. At early stages of the experiment and at all inclination angles Θ,
heat is conducted through the front aluminum plate to the adjacent
solid PCM which results in a steep rise in the temperature with time
R. Rabie, et al.
Fig. 12. The liquid-solid interface evolution during melting of RT35HC at zero inclination angle (Θ = 0°) at different over height ratios of 0, 20, 40, and 60% with (I)
CR = 5 and (II) CR = 10.
until reaching the PCM melting point. At that time, a very thin layer of
liquid PCM appears alongside the hot wall and the solid-liquid interface
is a straight vertical line as shown in Fig. 8 (t < 20 min). This behavior
reveals that heat is transferred mainly through conduction during that
period and in the direction normal to the hot wall. Further increase in
time allows for buoyancy force to grow enough to overcome the mo-
lecular viscous force which allows the hot molten liquid to flow upward
to the upper part of the system. At that time, buoyancy-driven con-
vection begins in the liquid region and the small concavity in the top
portion of solid-liquid interface gives a significant evidence of that
(Fig. 8 (t = 20 min)). In the case of the vertical enclosure (Θ = 0°) and
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with continued energy input the hot buoyant liquid firstly ascends to
the upper part of the system, adjacent to the heated wall, then turns
around and flows towards the liquid-solid interface where part of its
energy is consumed for melting the solid phase. Consequently, the li-
quid becomes colder and denser then descends alongside the interface
to the bottom of the container. This type of flow pattern speeds up the
local heat transfer and accordingly, the rate of melting at the top por-
tion of the container when compared to the lower portion, forming a
manifest curvature of the melting interface (Fig. 8(b)). As melting
continues (Fig. 8(c and d)), the solid phase, which works as a cold
source driving the natural convection, begins to vanish gradually from
R. Rabie, et al.
Fig. 13. The predicted vertical velocity (y-component) of the liquid PCM at 100 mm-height horizontal cross-section at two different time instants of (a) t = 35 min
and (b) t = 60 min and different over height ratios, at CR = 5.
the top part of the container allowing the molten liquid to touch the
opposite back wall. As a result, the interface shape at the top part of the
solid PCM develops a convex curvature that abates the effect of natural
convection in this segment. Later, the region of weak convection cur-
rents extends downwards, and this trend remains until reaching com-
plete liquid phase after 150 min.
Increasing the inclination angle from 0° to 45° results in a higher
rate of melting which is indicated by the larger melted layer thickness
in case of the 45° inclination angle (Fig. 8(f)) when compared with that
of the vertical orientation. The PCM liquid layer thickness at the hor-
izontal mid plane equals 0.73 cm at the 45° inclination angle which is
higher than that of the vertical orientation which is 0.59 cm after
30 min from the beginning of melting process. This difference can be
clarified by the fact that for the 45°-inclined system, the liquid PCM
absorbs heat from the aluminum front wall and instead of moving up-
ward parallel to the front hot wall as in the vertical orientation, it flows
towards the solid-interface. This results in more heat flow from the hot
side to the solid phase attaining a higher rate of melting. Accordingly,
more heat transfer from the hot wall to the solid PCM and a faster
melting rate is achieved. Later, (Fig. 8(g and h)), irregular shapes are
detected on the solid-liquid interface in case of the 45° inclined en-
closure, which shows the existence of a 3-D flow structure and vortex
motion in the liquid phase. This structure of flow field enhances the
energy transport to the solid-liquid interface from the front hot wall,
and the temperature uniformity of the liquid PCM. On the other hand,
at Θ = −45°, the solid-liquid interface is almost linear and parallel to
the front hot wall throughout the melting process. Furthermore, the
rate of melting is slower than that of the reference vertical angle, Θ = 0°
and the small liquid layer thickness during the melting process evi-
dently shows that. These observations show the presence of weak
convection in the liquid phase due to the accumulation of the hot fluid
near the front hot wall which serves as an insulating layer between the
liquid-solid interface and the hot wall.
Accordingly, as the heat transfer rate reduces, the melting rate de-
creases with augmenting melting layer thickness. This observation
agrees with (Emam et al., 2017a; Kamkari and Shokouhmand, 2014).
To facilitate comparisons, Fig. 9 presents the solid-liquid interface at
different time during the melting of RT35HC PCM for different tilting
angles at a heat flux value of 3000 W/m2 and an ambient temperature
of 25 ± 1 °C.
For further verification, Fig. 10 shows the variation of the liquid
fraction value with time during melting of RT35HC-PCM at Θ = 0°, 45°,
and −45°. It can be noticed that for all inclination angles, liquid
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fractions rise almost linearly with time. However, as time elapses and
the solid PCM shrinks in the −45°-inclined system, the variation in li-
quid fraction deviates from a linear tendency and the melting rate re-
duces due to the poor heat transfer rate and suppression of the con-
vection current as previously mentioned. Decreasing the inclination
angle from 0° to −45° increases the time needed to the whole melting
state by 40 %. On the other hand, for the 45°-inclined system, liquid
fraction varies almost linearly with time until the end of melting pro-
cess and achieves the highest melting rate due to the increased effects of
natural convection effects. The complete melting time decreases by
about 20 % when increasing the inclination angle is increased from 0°
to 45°. Additionally, Fig. 11 shows the unsteady variation of the
average hot wall temperature throughout melting of RT35HC at dif-
ferent inclination angles. Based on the figure, it can be deduced that the
system orientation angle has significant influence on the front wall
average temperature and consequently the CPV cell temperature. For
instance, varying the tilting angle from 0° to 45° decreases the average
front wall temperature by about 7 °C at a heat flux value of 3000 W/m2.
On the contrary, at an angle of −45°, the average front wall tempera-
ture rises sharply with time because of the poor heat transfer rate and
the average front wall temperature is 10 °C higher than that of the
vertically oriented system.
To conclude, the system orientation angle has a remarkable effect
on the average temperature of the solar cell and consequently its
electrical performance. Based on the obtained results, the CPV-PCM
system with an inclination angle of 45° and 0% over height ratio ac-
complishes the lowest average solar cell temperature due to boosting of
the natural convection currents. Conversely, the highest average solar
cell temperature and subsequently the lowest electrical performance
are attained at the inclination angle of −45° and 0% over height ratio.
Essentially, parabolic dish/trough and Fresnel lens concentrators are
usually used with CPV-PCM system with inclination angles of 45° and
−45°, respectively due to the configuration of each type of con-
centrators. Therefore, parabolic dish/trough concentrators are more
preferable than lenses when using CPV-PCM system with 0 % over
height ratio for practical applications.
3.2. Numerical results
In this section, numerical simulations were performed to study the
effects of adding a bulk of PCM over the solar cell height (hot source) on
the cooling of the CPV systems. This is accomplished through changing
the over height ratio, Λ of the PCM cavity while keeping the PCM
R. Rabie, et al. Solar Energy 183 (2019) 632–652

Fig. 14. The predicted temperature fields after about 65% from the solid PCM has melted for different over height ratios of 0% to 20%, 40%, and 60% at (I) CR = 5
and (II) CR = 10.

volume and the solar cell height constant. The developed model con-
siders these modifications in three different inclination angles of −45°,
0°, and 45°, while four different over height ratios of 0, 20, 40, and 60 %
are investigated at each inclination angle under CR of 5 and 10.
3.2.1. Effects of over height ratios
Fig. 12 shows the development of the liquid-solid interface during
melting of RT35HC at zero inclination angle (Θ = 0°) at different over
height ratios of 0, 20, 40, and 60 % and CRs of 5 and 10. As seen from
the figure, some important observations can be made. First, the esti-
mated evolution of liquid–solid interface for the vertically oriented
system at Ʌ = 0 %, shows almost the same trends as those of the ex-
perimental results at Θ = 0° and Ʌ = 0 % (Fig. 8(a–d)) and this trend is
true at any of the two CRs. Secondly, increasing the over height ratio Ʌ
from 0 % up to 60 %, results in differences in the liquid-solid interface
shape which indicates the presence of different flow patterns in the li-
quid PCM which can be described as follows. In the case of the 0% over
height ratio, the solid PCM, which initiatives the natural convection
currents, disappears progressively from the upper part of the container
throughout the melting process as shown in Fig. 12(I) after 35 min from
the starting of melting process. Thereby, natural convection declines in
this part which then extends downward with time till the complete

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Fig. 15. Ttransient average solar cell temperature at different over height ratios of 0% to 20%, 40%, and 60%, and a tilting angle of 0°, where: (a) CR = 5 and (b)
CR = 10.
Fig. 16. Local solar cell temperature after about 65% from the solid PCM has melted at different over height ratios and 0° inclination angle (a) CR = 5 and (b)
CR = 10.
melting. This situation decreases the heat transfer rate from the CPV
cell (hot source) to the solid PCM and consequently, the melting rate,
which negatively affects the cell performance. On the other hand,
varying the over height ratio, Λ from 0 % to 60 %, keeps the solid PCM
at the upper region for an extended period throughout the melting
process. This improves natural convection currents and consequently
the overall heat transfer process. In addition, applying different values
of CRs on the CPV cell’s front surface results in almost identical trends
on the solid-liquid interface evolution. However, raising the CR to 10
leads to a noticeable intensification in the rate of melting which de-
creases the required time to reach complete liquid phase as shown in
Fig. 12(II) and this trend is true at any over height ratio, Ʌ.
Further explanations are shown in Fig. 13 which compares the
predicted vertical velocity (y-component) of the liquid PCM at 100 mm-
height horizontal cross-section at two-time instances of 35 min and
60 min and at different over height ratios, for CR = 5. The peak positive
and negative velocities in the vertical component could be an indicator
of the strength of the natural convection current. As shown in the
figure, it is clear that at 0 % over height ratio, the peak positive velocity
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(upward vertical component) decreases from 7 × 10−3 to 3.9 × 10−3
m/s as time increases from 35 min to 60 min, respectively. This con-
firms that at 0 % over height ratio, the strength of the natural con-
vection current in this part decreases with time as the solid-phase de-
clines and its highest point shifts downwards as previously mentioned.
However, at 60% over height ratio, the peak positive velocity after
35 min from the start of the melting process equals about 8.5 × 10−3
m/s which is about 21% larger than that of the 0 % over height ratio at
the same time. Moreover, this value slightly decreases from 8.5 × 10−3
to 7.9 × 10−3 m/s as the time increases from 35 min to 60 min, re-
spectively as shown in Fig. 13. These observations show that adding a
bulk of PCM over the solar cell height via changing the over height
ratio, Λ of the PCM cavity not only increases the intensity of natural
convection current but also maintains its strength for a prolonged
period of time.
Fig. 14 shows the estimated temperature distribution of the PCM for
varied over height ratios of 0%, 20%, 40%, and 60% at CRs of 5 and 10.
These data are presented after about 65% of the solid phase has melted
for CR of 5 and 10. From Fig. 14 (I), at a CR = 5, the maximum
R. Rabie, et al.
Fig. 17. The evolution of the solid-liquid interface during melting of RT35HC for different over height ratios at CR = 5 and inclination angle of 45° and −45°.
observed temperature within the PCM for the vertically oriented CPV-
PCM system with a 0% over height ratio is about 71.1 °C. Furthermore,
it can be noticed that in that case, the hot molten liquid is collected at
the top portion of the container (adjacent to the cell) where there is no
solid PCM and accumulates above the heavier evolving thermally-
stratified liquid layers. This eventually causes a non-uniform tempera-
ture distribution along the solar cell and eventually generates hot spots.
By increasing the over height ratio Ʌ of the CPV-PCM system to 20%,
40%, and 60%, the maximum observed temperature within the PCM
reduced to 65 °C, 60.9 °C, and 54.5 °C, respectively. Furthermore, the
temperature of the liquid PCM is considerably reduced by increasing
the over height ratio and the accumulation of hot molten liquid is
shifted upward and away from the solar cell. This enhancement is
mainly attributed to the availability of the solid PCM over the solar cell
height (hot source) which provides a continuous heat absorption from
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the molten PCM. This thermal behaviour boosts the natural convection
current that plays a vital role in enhancing the overall heat transfer
process from the solar cell side to the solid PCM and improving tem-
perature distribution inside the system. Increasing the CR up to 10
shows an identical trend to those at CR = 5, except that the rate of
melting and the liquid PCM increases due to the increased incident solar
irradiance. From Fig. 14(II), the maximum observed temperature
within the PCM at CR = 10 is 96.6 °C, 87.7 °C, 79.8 °C, and 71.6 °C for
the CPV-PCM system with 0 %, 20 %, 40 %, and 60 % over height
ratios.
Fig. 15 presents the transient variation of the average cell tem-
perature at over height ratios of 0 % to 20 %, 40 %, and 60 % at the
tilting angle of 0°. As shown in the figure, there are three different
stages of temperature variation of the solar cell associated with the
phase change process of the cooling material. First, a steep increase in
R. Rabie, et al.
Fig. 18. The predicted temperature contours within the PCM for different over height ratios at CR = 5 inclination angle after 60 min from the starting of melting
process at inclination angle of 45° and −45°.
the average solar cell temperature followed by a gradual increase with
time is observed. This variation is most likely due to sensible heating of
the PCM by conduction heat transfer through the aluminum front plate.
Then, the phase transition of PCM adjacent to the aluminum front plate
forms a thin melting layer of the PCM while the heat transfer is still
dominated by conduction. At this point, changing the over height ratio
exhibits no difference in the average cell temperature. Secondly, further
increase in time results in a decrease in the average cell temperature
and then remains almost constant for a period of time. This stage in-
dicates the start of the heat transfer by convection which balances heat
transfer by conduction. During that time, the natural convection current
is significant in the liquid PCM as the melting fraction increases. Con-
sequently, the solar cell average temperature decreases. Lastly, later,
the cell temperature starts to increase gradually until it reaches the
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peak at complete melting point. This variation is observed when the
solid PCM, which acts as the cold source for driving the natural con-
vection currents starts to disappear from the upper part of the system.
During this period, natural convection currents are weaker in this re-
gion. Also, the temperature of the liquid PCM at the upper part of the
system increases which results in less heat transfer from the hot wall to
the liquid PCM. With further increase in time, the region of weak
convection currents extends from the top to the bottom rising the cell
temperature gradually until reaching a fully liquid phase. The key idea
of adding a bulk of PCM over the solar cell height in the current re-
search is to delay the last stage via increasing the intensity of the nat-
ural convection current and maintaining its strength for a prolonged
period of time. At a CR = 5 (Fig. 15-a), increasing the over height ratio
of the CPV-PCM system from 0 % to 20 %, 40 %, and 60 % decreases the
R. Rabie, et al. Solar Energy 183 (2019) 632–652

Fig. 19. Transient variation of the average solar cell temperature for the CPV-PCM system with different over height ratios and different inclination angles (a)
Θ = 45° and (b) Θ = −45° at a CR = 5.

Fig. 20. Local solar cell temperature after about 60 min from the starting of melting process at different over height ratios and different inclination angles (a) Θ = 45°
and (b) Θ = −45° at a CR = 5.

average cell temperature from 80 °C to 77.8 °C, 76 °C, and 75 °C, re-
spectively. Increasing the CR to 10, as shown in Fig. 15b, leads to an
identical trend of the average solar cell temperature variation and this
is true for all over height ratios. Besides, higher melting rate of PCM is
shown along with raising in the average solar cell temperature. Based
on the figure, significant reductions are observed in the average solar
cell temperatures to about 116 °C, 113 °C, 111 °C and 109 °C, by in-
creasing the over height ratio from 0 % to 20 %, 40 %, and 60 %,
respectively.
In addition, solar cell temperature uniformity is a key variable
worthy exploring to circumvent the formation of hot spots which po-
tentially causes solar cell damage. The non-uniform temperature var-
iation on the solar cell leads to different thermal expansion ratios which
create mechanical and thermal stresses on the cell and consequently
reducing its life time. For this reason, the uniformity index of solar cell,
ΔT is investigated in the current study. This is indeed the difference
between the local maximum and minimum temperature of the solar cell
as shown in Eq. (15). Fig. 16 illustrates the local solar cell temperature
(temperature variation along the solar cell height) at variable over
height ratios and CR of 5, and 10. These data are also presented after
about 65 % of the solid PCM has melted for both CRs. Increasing the
over height ratio Ʌ, lowers the local temperature of the solar cell and
improves the temperature uniformity along the solar cell height and
this trend is true for both CRs. At CR = 5 (Fig. 16a), the uniformity
index of the CPV-PCM system with 0% over height ratio is around
10.2 °C. Increasing the value of the over height ratio to 20 %, 40 %, and

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Fig. 21. Variation of the maximum temperature and temperature uniformity index versus the inclination angle of CPV-PCM system at CR = 5.
60% reduces the uniformity index to 8 °C, 7 °C and 5.9 °C, respectively.
An identical trend is shown in Fig. 16b at CR = 10, where the uni-
formity index reaches 17.5 °C for the CPV-PCM system with 0% over
height ratio, while it is 14.2 °C, 12.7 °C and 11.3 °C for the CPV-PCM
system with 20 %, 40 %, and 60 % over height ratio, respectively. This
enhancement is mainly due to the fact that unlike in the CPV-PCM
system with 0 % over height ratio, adding a bulk of PCM over the solar
cell height by increasing Ʌ reduces the cell temperature by enhancing
the heat transfer process and prevents the accumulation of hot molten
liquid near to the solar cell which is shifted upwards as previously
shown in Figs. 14–16. This thermal behavior reduces the thermal
stratification beside the cell and enhances its temperature uniformity.
Therefore, and based on Figs. 12–16, raising the over height ratio of
the vertically oriented CPV-PCM system, remarkably reduces the local
solar cell temperature and uniformity index. The CPV-PCM system with
a 60% over height ratio attained the best thermal performance of solar
cell compared to the other cases. The solar cell is kept at the average
temperature of 75 °C and 109 °C while the uniformity index is 5.9 °C
and 11.3 °C at a CR of 5 and 10, respectively.
3.2.2. Effects of inclination angles
As previously stated, the solar cells are commonly inclined in CPV
systems due to the configuration of various optical light concentrators.
So, this section investigates the effects of the inclination angle on the
performance of CPV-PCM systems at different over height ratios. Fig. 17
presents the evolution of the solid-liquid interface during melting of
RT35HC for different over height ratios at CR = 5 and inclination angle
of 45° and −45°, respectively. Based on the figure, at a 0 % over height
ratio, the rate of melting in the 45° inclined CPV-PCM system is higher
than that of the −45° -inclined CPV-PCM system. Moreover, increasing
the over height ratio at ether of the inclination angle raises the rate of
melting because of the enhanced heat transfer process inside the
system. The 45°-inclined CPV-PCM system with 60 % over height ratio
achieves complete liquid phase after about 95 min compared to over
100 min for the same system with 0 % over height ratio. However, the
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Solar Energy 183 (2019) 632–652
whole melting time for the −45°-inclined CPV-PCM system with 0%
and 60 % over height ratios is 129 min and 115 min, respectively.
Fig. 18 further illustrates the estimated temperature fields within
the PCM for various over height ratios at CR = 5 and inclination angles
of 45° and −45°, respectively. These data are presented after about
65% of the solid PCM has melted (about 60 min from the start of
melting process). As expected, using an inclination angle of 45° and
increasing the value of the over height ratio enhances the overall heat
transfer process in the CPV-PCM system as indicated by the reduced
temperature of the liquid PCM. This is due to the fact that strong
convection currents continue till complete melting. As shown in Fig. 18,
for the 45° oriented CPV-PCM system, the maximum observed tem-
perature within the PCM with 20% and 40% over height ratio is about
57.4 °C and 50 °C compared to 58.2 °C for the same system with 0% over
height ratio. Furthermore, increasing the over height ratio up to 60 %
reduces the maximum temperature within the PCM to 48.1 °C. The
figure also shows that, for the CPV-PCM system with −45° inclination
angle, increasing the over height ratios at the same rates decreases the
maximum observed temperature within the PCM from 83.5 °C to
72.8 °C, 63.7 °C and 57.3 °C, respectively. This reduction in the liquid
PCM temperature allows more heat transfer from the cell side to the
PCM which reduces the cell temperature and consequently improves its
electrical performance. It is interesting to note that increasing the over
height ratio can mitigate the negative effects of the −45° tilting angle
which open doors for its use in practical applications.
Fig. 19 illustrates the variation of the transient average solar cell
temperature for the CPV-PCM system with different over height ratios
of 0 %, 20 %, 40 %, and 60 % and various orientation angles of 45° and
−45° at a CR = 5. For the CPV-PCM system with a 45° inclination angle
as shown in Fig. 19(a), the solar cell average temperature is kept below
72.5 °C throughout the melting process and this is true for all over
height ratios. Moreover, increasing the over height ratio from 0% up to
60% at the tilt angle of 45° slightly reduces the solar cell average
temperature from 72.5 °C to 70.9 °C, respectively. On the contrary, at
the tilt angle of −45°, increasing the over height ratio remarkably
R. Rabie, et al.
Fig. 22. Variation of the maximum temperature and temperature uniformity index versus the inclination angle of CPV-PCM system at CR = 10.
reduces the average temperature of the solar cell as seen in Fig. 19(b).
For instance, rising the over height ratio from 0 % up to 60 % reduces
the solar cell average temperature from 88.5 °C to 75.7 °C, respectively.
Based on these results, it is noted that the effect of increasing the over
height ratio on the solar cell average temperature is more pronounced
in case of the −45° inclined CPV-PCM system when compared to that of
45°. Additionally, Fig. 20 shows the local solar cell temperature at
different over height ratios and both tilt angles at a CR = 5. These data
are also presented after about 65% of the solid phase has melted (after
about 60 min). In the case of the CPV-PCM system with 45° inclination
angle as shown in Fig. 20 (a), increasing the over height ratio from 0 %
up to 60 %, decreases the uniformity index (ΔT) from 6.2 °C to 4.6 °C.
However, for −45° tilt angle, increasing the over height ratio from 0 %
to 60 %, considerably decreases the ΔT from about 14 °C to 5.3 °C, re-
spectively as shown in Fig. 20(b). Therefore, adding a bulk of PCM over
the solar cell height of the CPV-PCM system with an orientation angle of
−45°, not only reduces the average solar cell temperature but its
temperature uniformity index as well.
To summarize the main findings of the current work, the effect of
varying over height ratios on the temperature uniformity index at dif-
ferent CPV-PCM angles and the maximum solar cell temperatures are
outlined in Fig. 21(a and b), and Fig. 22 (a, and b) at CR of 5, and 10,
respectively. At CR = 5, the effect of varying over height ratio has a
favorable effect on both the maximum temperature and uniformity
index. At the −45°-tilt angle, the reduction in the maximum tempera-
ture, and uniformity index is about 17.5 °C, and 8.5 °C, respectively as
the over height ratio varied from 0 to 60%. on the other hand, in-
creasing the inclination angle to 45 °C slightly reduces the maximum
temperature and uniformity index by about 2 °C, and 1.7 °C. Similarly,
at CR = 10, at the inclination angle of −45°, the maximum cell tem-
perature and uniformity index are reduced by 31 °C, and 15.7 °C.
However, at the inclination angle of 45°, the maximum cell temperature
and uniformity index are deduced by 3 °C, and 1.2 °C. Thus, for con-
centrators that acquire a negative orientation such as Fresnel lenses, a
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Solar Energy 183 (2019) 632–652
CPV-PCM system with high values of the over height ratio should be
used to mitigate the negative effects of such kind of orientations.
4. Conclusion
Experimental and numerical investigations have been carried out to
investigate the influence of over height ratio of a PCM heat sink on the
temperature distribution along with the solar cell. Thus, four different
over height ratios of 0 %, 20 %, 40 %, and 60 % at three inclination
angles of −45°, 0° and 45° with solar concentration ratios of 5 and 10
are investigated. In light of the current study, some important ob-
servations have been made. Increasing over height ratio significantly
reduces the formation of stratified liquid layers, and in return reduces
the potential hot spots in the upper portion of the solar cells. At a 0 %
over height ratio, employing a PCM heat sink at inclination angle of
−45° showed less cooling effect compared to inclination angles of 0°
and 45°. This behavior is mainly due to the accumulation of the liquid
PCM at the top part of the PCM enclosure and near the solar cell. At the
same time, increasing the over height ratio significantly reduces the
solar cell maximum temperature and improves temperature uniformity
due to the remarkable enhancement of natural convection current in
the PCM enclosure. At an inclination angle of 45°, a slight reduction of
maximum solar cell temperature is observed with insignificant en-
hancement of temperature uniformity. Accordingly, for concentrators
that require a negative orientation, high values of over height ratios
should be considered.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the Egyptian Ministry of Higher
Education (MoHE)-Egypt for providing a scholarship to conduct this
study as well as the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology,
for offering the financial support and computational tools to conduct
this research work.
R. Rabie, et al. Solar Energy 183 (2019) 632–652

Appendix A

Table A-1
The specifications and accuracy of the employed instruments as reported in their datasheets.
Instrument Specifications

Silicon rubber heater Dimensions 100 mm × 100 mm

Thickness 1.5 mm
Max. temperature 250 °C
Electrical power 0.5 W/cm2
density
Heat flux sensor Dimensions 10 mm × 10 mm
Thickness 0.4 mm
Representative 0.995 μV/(W/m2)
sensitivity
Thermal resistance 0.00015 °C/(W/m2)
Accuracy ± 3%
Temperature range −200 to 200 °C
Heat flux meter Measurement range −50.00 to 50.00 mV
Accuracy ± 0.5%
Recording capacity 60,000 data
Volt slider Input voltage 100 V
Output voltage 0 to 130 V
Multichannel temperature Number of channels 4
recorder Measurement range −270 to 1370 °C
Accuracy ± 0.5 °C
Resolution 0.1 °C
Recording capacity 240,000 data/ch.
Recording interval 0.1 s to 30 min
Micro-thermocouples Type K-type
Covering material Teflon
Wire diameter 0.127 mm (Temp. sensor) and
0.32 mm (connector)
Temperature range 0 to 200 °C
Insulation Thickness 30 mm
Thermal k = 0.026 W/m K
conductivity

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