An experimental investigation on passive cooling of a triple-junction solar cell at high concentrations using various straight-finned heat sink configurations

The current study evaluates the energy, exergy, and environmental performance of concentrated triple junction photovoltaic (CPV TJ) cells at various concentration ratios with solar incident irradiance (CRs) ranging from 56 to 550 suns in Saudi Arabia during hot weather. Therefore, the integrated solar cells employed four distinct heat sinks: two with dimensions of 40 × 40 mm2, one with full straight fins (HS-A) and the other with chopped fins (HS-B), and the remaining two with dimensions of 150 × 70 mm2, one with full straight fins (HS-D) and the other with chopped fins (HS-C). The large heat sink (type-D) is 40.48% more efficient than the smaller one (type-B), which is only 39.7% efficient at a CR of 550. Regarding weight, the lighter heat sink (type-B) generates a higher relative power of roughly 1.22 W/g.cm2 than the heaviest one (type-D), which produces 0.22 W/g.cm2. According to exergy, the heat sink raised the solar cell improvement potential (IP) to 6.3, with exergy cost up to 0.085 $/cm2 higher than the uncooled cell. Based on an environmental study, combining the TJ cell with heat sinks reduces yearly carbon emissions by 311.9–327 tons/m2 compared to 43 tons/m2 for the uncooled cell.