Investigation of Solar-Driven Hydroxy Gas Production System Performance Integrated with Photovoltaic Panels with Single-Axis Tracking System

In this study, a solar driven alkaline electrolyzer producer of hydroxy gas is proposed which is integrated with photovoltaic panels with single-axis north-south solar tracking system. The main novelty of this work is providing transient analysis of integration of alkaline electrolyzer to the PV panels equipped with solar tracking system. Furthermore, the transient model of the alkaline electrolyzer is employed to calculate its operating temperature, hydroxy production rate and the other operational parameters at various hours of the day. The electrolyzer and PV panels with tracking system are modelled in EES software. It is assumed that the system is installed in Shahrood city, therefore, the geographical data this city is used for seasonal analysis. The effective area of electrolyzer electrodes and PV panels is also assumed to be fixed at 0.25m2 and 50m2, respectively, in this study. Based on the results, employment of solar tracking system resulted in significant increment of PV panels power absorption rate resulting in power increment up to 4.2kW in summer. On the other hand, the transient analysis of the proposed alkaline electrolyzer showed that the maximum operating temperature of which reaches 80oC at around 12 AM in the summer cause of achieving maximum electrical current peak in summer. Therefore, an efficient cooling system should be employed in summer for decrement of alkaline electrolyzer temperature. The proposed system is capable of producing 7.6m3/day, 10.4m3/day, 7.2m3/day and 4.1m3/day hydroxy gas in spring, summer, fall, and winter, consecutively.