Measurement of the Convective Heat Transfer Coefficient and Temperature of Vehicle-Integrated Photovoltaic Modules

• Main Authors: Hayakawa, Y. (Author), Sato, D. (Author), Yamada, N. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Subjects: Automobile bodies; Convective heat transfer; convective heat transfer coefficient; Convective heat transfer coefficient; Heat convection; Heat transfer coefficients; Heat transfer co-efficients; Photovoltaic modules; Photovoltaics; Roofs; Solar panels; temperature change rate; Temperature change rate; Temperature changes; Vehicle roofs; Vehicle speed; Vehicle-integrated photovoltaic; vehicle-integrated photovoltaics
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 To improve the thermal design of vehicle-integrated photovoltaic (VIPV) modules, this study clarifies the characteristics of the convective heat transfer coefficient h between the vehicle roof surface and the surrounding air with respect to vehicle speed. Experiments on two types of vehicles with different body shapes indicate that h is strongly affected by vehicle speed, and it is also affected by body shape depending on the position on the roof. Empirical equations for approximating h as a function of vehicle speed and position on the vehicle roof are derived from the experimental datasets, and the differences between the equations derived herein and traditional equations that have been used for the heat transfer analysis of conventional stationary photovoltaic (PV) modules are clarified. Furthermore, the temperature change characteristics of the VIPV module were measured experimentally, confirming that h is the dominant factor causing the high temperature change rate of the VIPV module under driving conditions. In sunny summer conditions, the measured temperature change rate reaches up to 16.5◦C/min, which is approximately 10 times greater than that in the standard temperature cycle test for conventional stationary PV modules. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.