Passive Coolant Devices


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	Subhash Chandra, Ph.D. Institute Director chandra@hartford.edu Thomas Filburn, Ph.D., P.E. Institute Assistant Director filburn@hartford.edu

Institute for Life Support and Sustainable Living

College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture

University of Hartford

Design and Testing of Passive Coolant Devices for Photovoltaic Cells

Problem Statement: The direct conversion of sunlight into electricity is accomplished using solid state devices called Photovoltaic (PV) collectors. These devices operate more efficiently at lower temperatures, yet their exposure to direct sunlight raises the cell temperatures. Is there a passive method that will decrease the temperature and increase the efficiency of these cells?

Description: This program researched the design of passive coolant channels that could be added to the back of a solar collector to decrease its operating temperature. This solar collector was operated as a surrogate for a PV cell. This project investigated the design of passages that could be inexpensively added to the rear of a solar collector. In addition to investigating coolant passage design features, this project performed parametric testing on the collector, to determine optimal passage design to minimize collector temperature.

The students designed, built and tested the solar collector. Their test program demonstrated that small passages added to the rear of the collector would significantly reduce the collector temperature. Therefore, this design can add to the operating efficiency of PV cells.

University of Hartford Participants:

Dave Varsik

Shawn Sheppo

Faculty Advisor Tom Filburn

Client: Barry Lubin, Ph.D.

Sean Sheppo, Dave Varsik student workers solar collector project