Improving Heat Transfer in Hybrid Solar Systems Using Liquid Metal Alloys as a Coolant

Abstract

An improvement in performance of hybrid solar system with use of liquid metal alloy GaInSn as a coolant has been demonstrated in this study. The performance of hybrid system using GaInSn, water, and air as coolants under different operating conditions such as ambient temperature, different inlet velocities of fluid, solar irradiations is analyzed using simulation software ANSYS and the results obtained are validated using experiments. The results obtained from simulations and experiments are used for determining important performance criteria such as electrical efficiency, thermal efficiency, and exergy efficiency. The exergy, thermal, and electrical efficiencies were found to be at least 11%, 12%, and 12% higher for hybrid system using GaInSn as a coolant when compared to hybrid systems using air and water as coolants, respectively.