Learning Forum

[m.yaghini]

I want to do a thermal analysis of solar cell. I need to have both Heat Flux and Convection as the boundary conditions on the top surface of the cell at the same time, but I can only use one of them, heat flux or convection!

What should I do to have the both boundary conditions at the same time?

Thanks

[peteroznewman]

You should improve your understanding of heat transfer basics.

Convective Heat Transfer >  q = h(T - Tb)
where  q = heat flux
            h = film coefficient
            T = surface temperature
            Tb = temperature of bulk fluid on surface.

Do you see that convective heat flux depends on the surface temperature T?

A heat flux boundary condition means the value of q is a constant, regardless of the surface temperature T.

It is mathematically impossible to have both a convection boundary condition and a heat flux boundary condition on the same surface.

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If you know the film coefficient, h, you could use Steady State Thermal analysis instead of a Fluent Model to simulate the convective heat transfer.