Evaluating the impact of the air domain on CFD simulations of photovoltaic panels coupled with phase change materials

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of solving the airflow over solar panels in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for predicting the temperature of photovoltaic (PV) panels integrated with phase change materials (PCMs). The simulations were validated against experimental data by comparing two scenarios: one that considers the air domain for convective heat transfer and other one that replaces it with a uniform convective heat transfer coefficient. The results showed a strong agreement between the two approaches, with minimal differences in the average temperature of the PV panel and also in the PCM melting fraction. However, the simplified model, which excluded the air domain, significantly reduced computational cost. These findings suggest that for a thermal performance analysis of PV–PCM systems, using a heat transfer coefficient is a valid and computationally efficient alternative to explicitly simulating the air domain. Nonetheless, further research is needed to evaluate the generality of these results across different configurations and conditions.