Renewable Energy, Vol.163, 2153-2164, 2021
Effect of N-Photovoltaic thermal integrated parabolic concentrator on milk temperature for pasteurization: A simulation study
In this study, an effort has been done to develop the thermal modeling of solar milk pasteurization system operated through N number of fully covered semitransparent photovoltaic thermal integrated parabolic concentrator (N/PVT/IPC). The thermal mathematical model of the present proposed system has been exhaustively demonstrated for the assessment of performance parameters namely, solar cells electrical efficiency, electrical power output, useful thermal energy gain and temperature of milk (which is to be pasteurized) in terms of both design and climatic conditions. Moreover, effect of operating pa-rameters such as mass flow rate of withdrawn milk, number of collector, packing factor, and mass flow rate of collector fluid on milk pasteurization temperature have been comprehensively discussed. The present numerical simulations have been carried out for New Delhi, India climatic condition. Based on mathematical computation, it has been found that milk temperature for pasteurization increases significantly with increase in number of PVT/IPC collectors at lower packing factor. Further, it is also concluded that the proposed pasteurization system under optimal design and operating parameters can produce 216 kg of pasteurized milk and 5.7 kW h of electrical energy. Correspondingly, after simulation it is inferred that the proposed system is self-sustained under 6 h of operation. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.