Work

Performance enhancement of photovoltaic thermal swirling reversed circular flow jet impingement systems

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Developing effective cooling strategies in the application of Photovoltaic (PV) systems is essential as they can enhance performance, economic, and environmental feasibility significantly. This research develops a novel Swirling Reversed Circular Flow Jet Impingement-based PV system (SRCFJI). The research was conducted indoors using mass flow rates of 0.01 to 0.13 kg/s and solar irradiances of 500 to 900 W/m 2 . The study used numerical models and SimaPro to examine the cost-effectiveness and environmental friendliness of SRCFJI compared to PV and RCFJI, showcasing the effect of the swirling effect. The study showed that SRCFJI enhanced monthly electrical and thermal energy by 10.90% and 6.08% when the net electrical and thermal exergy enhancements were 3.33% and 17.64%. SRCFJI increased cumulative energy demand and annual cost by 9.2% and 73.64% compared to PV alone. The SRCFJI systems proved to be cost-effective by recording enhancements of 3.82%, 1.84%, and 4.36% in energy cost, levelized cost of exergy, and energy recovery period. Finally, the system proved to be environmentally friendly by recording a CO 2 mitigation capacity of 1.21 tons while its emissions were only 0.73 tons. Also, it recorded the highest suitability index of 1.14 and improvement potential of 84.25 W.

Source: Applied Thermal Engineering

DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2026.133584