Long-term analysis of a small-scale concentrated photovoltaic-thermal system with a nanoparticle-based optical filter

Recent years have seen a sharp increase in the range and implementation of solar energy conversion systems, with an overall goal of reducing fossil fuel dependence. One example of such systems is a concentrated photovoltaic-thermal (CPV-T) system that uses nanofluid-based optical filters, which can generate electricity and absorb heat from sunlight. Although spectral filtering CPV-T systems have been explored in the literature for power generation, they have not been investigated for domestic applications. In this work, dynamic simulations of a small-scale spectral filtering CPV-T system under the climatic conditions of Tucson, Arizona, are performed. The long-term simulations indicate that the proposed CPV-T system can offset a total of 1.317 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year per household. If implemented in 10% of the households in the U.S., the total CO2 offset by the proposed system would be equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 3.19 million passenger vehicles per year.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engineering

Grantor

Rice University

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Rodrigues Fernandes, Marcelo

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Schaefer, Laura A

• concentrated photovoltaic thermal
• CPV-T
• spectral filtering
• spectral beam splitting
• long-term analysis

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1911/105714

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.rice.edu:1911/105714