Wavy jet plate induced turbulence for enhanced thermo-fluid performance of jet impingement photovoltaic thermal (PVT)

A photovoltaic (PV) system suffers degradation as its operation temperature increases, which in turn limits the overall energy output. Although jet impingement cooling has been extensively studied, most research concentrates on the streamwise and spanwise aspects of a conventional flat plate jet impingement. The impact of jet plate geometry itself is often disregarded. This study fills the gap by providing a new wavy jet plate design to improve the thermo-fluid performance in a jet impingement PVT system. A hybrid approach using numerical analysis and indoor experiment was used to examine four different jet plate geometries, such as 60° equilateral, 45° isosceles, 50–70° scalene, and 30–60° right-angle configurations. The wavy jet plate was tested with a constant irradiance of 1000 W/m2 and Reynolds numbers of 2105 to 10672. Key performance indicators, such as energy performance and system evaluation performance, including exergy, friction factor, and pressure drop, were assessed for each design. The findings show that the wavy jet plate has a significant impact on flow behaviour and heat transfer characteristics. The 45° isosceles design achieved the highest overall PVT efficiency around 86% due to an optimum balance between thermal enhancement and hydraulic losses. Meanwhile, the 60° equilateral design resulted in a better electrical performance due to even cooling. It was also discovered that higher Reynolds numbers cause performance improvement decreases due to turbulence saturation and higher pressure drop. The novelty of this work lies in the establishment of jet plate geometry as a new design parameter, which provides a practical pathway for optimizing jet impingement PVT systems.

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