Researchers in Algeria simulated perforated hexagonal-fin heat sinks to improve PV cooling performance using CFD analysis. The best design reduced cell temperature by up to 20.93% and increased efficiency while maintaining high thermal performance under forced convection.
A research group at the University of Batna, Algeria, has evaluated the cooling performance of heat sinks with different fin geometries and perforated structures for photovoltaic (PV) applications.
“This work’s combination of geometric optimization of fins and perforations offers new insights into advanced heat sink designs tailored explicitly for solar energy applications,” the researchers explained. “Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were used to model laminar forced convection and conduction heat transfer, enabling comparison between different fin and perforation configurations and a conventional rectangular heat sink.”
The team investigated four designs: plain rectangular fins (PRF), plain hexagonal fins (PHF), hexagonal fins with rhombus perforations (HFRP), and hexagonal fins with hexagonal perforations (HFHP).
All configurations were modeled as attached to a 165 mm × 65 mm polycrystalline silicon solar cell rated at 6 V/250 mA. Each heat sink consisted of 18 aluminum fins. The PRF design served as the reference case, while PHF used hexagonal fins to increase surface area. The HFRP design incorporated four rhombus-shaped perforations per fin, and the HFHP configuration used four hexagonal perforations per fin.
