Advanced Heat Sink Fin Design: A Study on Geometric Parameters and Their Influence on Convective Heat Transfer for Double-Pass Solar Photovoltaic Thermal (PVT)

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Lin Hai Yang 1
Muhammad Amir Aziat Ishak 2
Nurul 'Atiqah Bt Ahmad 1
Zikrul Hakiem 3
1 School of Engineering, Faculty of Innovation & Technology, Taylor's University, Lakeside Campus, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
2 Solar Energy Research Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
3 Faculty of Industrial Management, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26300 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
10.22055/jacm.2026.49256.5843
Abstract
A photovoltaic–thermal (PVT) collector is a hybrid system capable of generating electrical and thermal energy simultaneously. However, the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) modules decreases with rising operating temperature, limiting overall system performance. This study focuses on enhancing the performance of a PVT system by integrating a heat-sink fin collector with improved geometrical designs. The proposed heat sink has dimensions of 400 × 400 mm with a 10 mm edge spacing and a fin length of 5 cm, incorporating repeating fin patterns to maximize heat dissipation. By increasing the surface area, the heat sink absorbs excess heat from the PV module, reducing its operating temperature and improving electrical efficiency while recovering useful thermal energy. Five different fin designs were developed and evaluated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis under airflow ranging from 2 m/s to 10 m/s, with solar irradiance between 600 and 100 W/m2. Both electrical and thermal efficiencies were analyzed and compared to identify the most effective design. The results show that Design 1 achieved the highest overall efficiency, with efficiency ranging from 49.02% to 66.58% under constant irradiance of 100 W/m2. The photovoltaic efficiency was 13.3%, while thermal efficiency exceeded 53% at the highest flow rate. Furthermore, increasing airflow velocity reduces the PV temperature from 43°C to 30°C, improving electrical performance. The findings show that the optimum heat sink geometry significantly improves heat transfer and overall performance of the double-pass PVT system.
Keywords
Photovoltaic thermal
Electrical energy
Thermal energy
Heat dissipation
Heat sink
Fins
Subjects

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Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics

Articles in Press, Corrected Proof
Available Online from 27 May 2026