Improved Thermal and Power Management of Modified Solar PV System Integrated with Phase Change Material Through Transient Charging and Discharging Cycles

Increase in temperatures significantly reduce photovoltaic (PV) panel efficiency by increasing thermalization losses and carrier recombination. To mitigate this issue, phase change material (PCM-RT35) is integrated with the PV system. This study investigates the thermal performance of a PV–PCM hybrid system under the summer climatic conditions of Islamabad, Pakistan. A transient computational model was developed in ANSYS Fluent 2021 R1 and validated against published experimental data, showing an accuracy within 5% for panel temperature. Monthly average hourly heat flux and ambient temperature profiles were used as boundary conditions in three separate simulations. The results show that, although all three months reach a 100% melt fraction, only April achieves complete solidification within a 24-h cycle. In May solidification merely begins before the end of the period, and in June no solidification occurs at all. Importantly, integrating the PCM lowers the PV module’s peak temperature by up to 15 °C and boosts its power-output efficiency by about 6%. By keeping the module cooler, its electrical efficiency is therefore significantly improved.