Technical Investigation of a Photovoltaic Module with Integrated Improved Phase Change Material

High operating temperatures inside a crystalline silicon photovoltaic cell causes a significant negative effect to its energy conversion efficiency. A reduction of this temperature would not only lead to a gain in energy yield of a PV module but also would has a positive effect to its degradation rate and lifetime. One effective approach seems to absorb the heat flow via phase change materials (PCM). Unfortunately, due to its low thermal conductivity and the mass required to provide a sufficient heat storage capacity, its application for PV modules has been very limited. This investigation includes an assessment of a new PCM compound, featuring an increased thermal conductivity, but with a lower heat storage capacity. For this reason, a single crystalline silicon PV module has been equipped with a conventional, commercially available PCM and another one with the new PCM compound. Both PV-PCM modules and a bare reference PV module have been compared at real summer outdoor conditions in the PV-Outdoor-Laboratory of the University of Paderborn.