Newton Fund-Integrating water cooled concentrated photovoltaics with waste heat reuse

Completed

Renewable Energy Sources(Solar Energy, Photovoltaics)

Basic and strategic applied research

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Dr S Balabani
Mechanical Engineering
University College London

Standard

EPSRC

01 January 2015

31 March 2017

27 months

£72,518

Energy

London

Newton Programme

Dr S Balabani, Mechanical Engineering, University College London

Dr M Tiwari, Mechanical Engineering, University College London

Highly concentrated photovoltaic (HCPV) systems exploit concentrated solar flux using cheap optical components in lieu of large area, expensive photovoltaic cells. However, HCPV chips - due to their higher energy flux - generate considerable amount of waste heat which lowers their energy conversion efficiency. Novel microscale water cooling systems (i.e. microfluidic chips) can effectively regulate the photovoltaics cell temperature, thereby enhancing the cell energy efficiency. Additionally, the heat extracted by the coolant can be reused in:a. Food and Pharmaceutical stage: to run an absorption refrigeration unit (where evaporation of a working fluid causes cooling) for food preservation and storage of vaccines, that require considerable energy use.b. Water: membrane based water desalination processes to make saline water suitable for domestic and agricultural usec. Fuel: for efficient production biodieselIntegrating water cooled HCPV systems with one or more of these waste heat recovery technologies can have major positive impact on water, energy, food, healthcare and environmental challenges faced by Brazil - this is very well-aligned with the 'Food energy water environment nexus' theme.

17/07/15