Thermal Modeling and Performance Evaluation of Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) Systems: A Parametric Study

Conventional solar photovoltaic (PV) module converts the light component of solar radiation into electrical power, and heat part is absorbed by module increasing its operating temperature. Combined PV module and heat exchanger generating both electrical and thermal powers is called as hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar system. The paper presents the design of a PV/T collector, made with thin film PV technology and a spiral flow absorber, and a simulation model, developed through the system of several mathematical equations, to evaluate the performance of PV/T water collectors. The effect of various parameters on the thermal and electrical efficiency has been investigated to obtain optimum combination of parameters. Finally, a numerical simulation has been carried out for the daily and annual yield of the proposed PV/T collector, and comparison with a standard PV module is discussed.