Experimental assessment of a concentrated solar panel cooled by a hybrid cooling system of vapor chamber and evaporation/melting phase change materials

The excessive heating in concentrated solar panels (CSP) reduces performance capabilities. This experimental study evaluates the thermal management of CSP by comparing the efficiency of free convection cooling against various eight configurations of liquid phase change (LPC) evaporation and phase change materials (PCM) melting, both alone and enhanced with metal shavings (MS) and/or vapor chamber (VC). The performance of phase-change cooling techniques is limited by low thermal conductivity and insufficient heat transfer area. This work combines dual-phase change mechanisms in PCM with VC-assisted heat spreading and conductivity enhancement in CSP. This study aims to assess the thermal efficacy of these hybrid cooling configurations and to examine the impact of material thickness and enhancement techniques on lowering CSP temperature and extending thermal regulation duration. The outcomes reveal that using acetone evaporation and PCM reduces the CSP temperature by about 235 °C and 216 °C, respectively, compared to free convection cooling, as LPC is more efficient. Raising the acetone layer thickness or using VC and MS with the PCM prolongs the thermal management time of the cooling system. Moreover, using VC and MS reduces CSP temperature by 7 °C (acetone) and 11 °C (PCM), compared to using pure phase change substances.