Transient Thermal Analysis of a Metal Foam-Assisted Ternary Nano-Enhanced Phase Change Material Cooling System for Photovoltaic Thermal Management

Photovoltaic (PV) panels experience significant efficiency degradation under elevated operating temperatures, making effective thermal regulation an important challenge for sustainable solar energy systems.Passive cooling techniques based on phase change materials (PCMs) have attracted considerable attention because of their latent heat storage capability; however, the low thermal conductivity of conventional paraffin-based PCMs restricts heat transfer performance during transient melting processes.This study investigates the thermal behavior of a PV cooling system employing paraffin enhanced with Ag-Al 2 O 3 -TiO 2 ternary nanoparticles and porous metal foam.A transient numerical model was developed using a Galerkin finite element approach combined with an adaptive mesh refinement technique to accurately capture the movement of the melting front and the associated thermal gradients.The thermal performance of the proposed cooling configuration was evaluated through temperature distribution, liquid fraction evolution, and PV electrical efficiency under transient operating conditions.The results showed that the incorporation of ternary nanoparticles and porous metal foam significantly enhanced heat diffusion and accelerated the melting process within the PCM domain.The liquid fraction increased by approximately 38.66% compared with the conventional PCM configuration, indicating more effective latent heat absorption and faster phase transition behavior.It was also found that the enhanced cooling system reduced the PV panel temperature by nearly 12.75% and improved the PV electrical efficiency by approximately 26.75% relative to the uncooled case.In addition, the incorporation of pure paraffin beneath the PV panel reduced the panel temperature by about 9.94%, confirming the effectiveness of latent heat storage for passive thermal regulation.The results indicate that the simultaneous utilization of ternary nano-enhanced PCM and porous metal foam provides an effective passive cooling strategy for PV thermal management.The proposed configuration offers improved thermal energy dissipation, enhanced phase change heat transfer characteristics, and promising potential for the development of high-performance solar energy systems.