Experimental Performance of an Advanced Air-Type Photovoltaic-Thermal (PVT/a) Collector
Abstract
A photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) collector is a solar collector that combines a photovoltaic module with a solar thermal collector, which produces electricity and heat at the same time. Depending on the medium used for collecting thermal energy, there are two types of PVT collectors: air-type and water-type. The integration of PV modules with a thermal collector can cause a temperature rise of the PV module, which in turn decreases the efficiency of the PVT collector. In order to obtain better performance of air-type PVT (PVT/a) collectors, it is necessary to extract the heat, in the form of hot/warm air, from the PV module, which then decreases its temperature. This article presents the performance of a new design of a PVT/a collector that uses air as the heat recovery fluid. In this study, an advanced PVT/a collector were newly developed, and its electrical and thermal performance was analyzed from experimental results in outdoor conditions. The results indicated that the thermal and electrical efficiencies of the PVT/a collector were, on average, approximately 30 % and 7 %, respectively.