Model Validation of an Empirical Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) Collector

Abstract

Within solar energy technologies, the hybrid photovoltaic–thermal (PV/T) systems offer an attractive option because the absorbed solar radiation is converted into thermal and electrical energy (the conversion can be done separately or simultaneously). In this paper, an attempt is made to investigate the thermal and electrical performance of a solar photovoltaic thermal collector. A detailed thermal model is developed to calculate the thermal parameters of a typical PV/T collector. The thermal parameters of this collector include solar cell temperature, outlet water temperature, thermal efficiency and useful thermal energy. Some corrections are done on heat loss coefficients in order to improve the thermal model of a PV/T collector. A computer simulation program is developed in order to calculate the thermal and electrical parameters of a PV/T collector. The absorber is realized with the galvanized iron of high quality, allowing a good transfer of heat with lower cost compared to copper. This PVT has the advantage of its simple implementation and its low cost compared to other configurations. The results of numerical simulation are in good agreement with the experimental measurements noted in the previous literature. It is observed that the thermal simulation results obtained in this paper is more precise than the one given by the previous literature. It is also found that the thermal efficiency of PV/T collector is about 54.51% in the mode of water heat exchanger, and 16.24% in air heat extraction, the electrical efficiency is 11.12%, for a sample climatic, operating and design parameters.