Technological Advances to Maximize Solar Collector Energy Output
Swapnil S. Salvi School of Mechanical, Materials and Energy Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Rupnagar 140001, Punjab, India Technological Advances to Vishal Bhalla1 School of Mechanical, Maximize Solar Collector Energy Materials and Energy Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Rupnagar 140001, Punjab, India Output: A Review Robert A. Taylor Since it is highly correlated with quality of life, the demand for energy continues to School of Mechanical and increase as the global population grows and modernizes. Although there has been signifi- Manufacturing Engineering; cant impetus to move away from reliance on fossil fuels for decades (e.g., localized pollu- School of Photovoltaics and tion and climate change), solar energy has only recently taken on a non-negligible role Renewable Energy Engineering, in the global production of energy. The photovoltaics (PV) industry has many of the same The University of New South Wales, electronics packaging challenges as the semiconductor industry, because in both cases, Sydney 2052, Australia high temperatures lead to lowering of the system performance. Also, there are several technologies, which can harvest solar energy solely as heat. Advances in these technolo- Vikrant Khullar gies (e.g., solar selective coatings, design optimizations, and improvement in materials) Mechanical Engineering Department, have also kept the solar thermal market growing in recent years (albeit not nearly as rap- Thapar University, idly as PV). This paper presents a review on how heat is managed in solar thermal and Patiala 147004, Punjab, India PV systems, with a focus on the recent developments for technologies, which can harvest heat to meet global energy demands. It also briefs about possible ways to resolve the Todd P.
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