Silicon carbide

Engineering

Nanoparticle

Materials science

Nano-

Waste management

Phase-change material

Thermodynamics

Physics

Nuclear engineering

Nanotechnology

Thermal

Paraffin wax

Process engineering

Environmental science

Composite material

Nanofluid

Photovoltaic system

Electrical engineering

Thermal Science and Engineering Progress

This paper shows a technoeconomic evaluation of a PVT system. The PV cooling system consists of a tank attached to the panel back side filled with PCM (paraffin wax) mixed with nano-SiC to increase its thermal conductivity and the reservoir is cooled by recycling nanofluid (water + nano-SiC). The MATLAB program was used for economic evaluation. The experimental work was also carried out and the data obtained were used for evaluation. To improve heat transfer more, nanofluid was used with nano-PCMs in the studied PVT compound. The nanomaterial used in the current study was silicon carbide (SiC) and the PCM selected was paraffin wax. The economic evaluation aspect provided that the cost of the life cycle, the cost per item, and the percentage cost of the system. The technical side introduced the efficiency of the inverter, the specific yield, and the capacity factor which were 97.3%, 190.4 kWh/kWp, and 25.9%, respectively. The output power of this system, electrical and thermal efficiencies were found to be 12.7 W, 13.7% and 72.0%, respectively. The cost of electricity and payback periods were 0.125 $/kWh and 5–6 years, respectively. The results indicated that the studied system is economically feasible and shows great promise.

Experimental investigation of using nano-PCM/nanofluid on a photovoltaic thermal system (PVT): Technical and economic study