Air-PVT in Solar Cooling Systems: a Feasibility Study
Abstract
While water-based Photovoltaic-Thermal (PVT) systems dominate research due to thermodynamics, Air-PVT offers advantages for integration to buildings, like no leakage risk and easier installation. This paper explores Air-PVT for cooling, where demand aligns with solar generation. Possible applications of Air-PVT include regenerating desiccant wheels in evaporative cooling or nighttime radiative cooling. A TRNSYS model of an Air-PVT prototype is validated experimentally, with next steps involve the modeling of a combined Air-PVT desiccant cooling system, a nighttime radiative cooling system. The study aims to assess their feasibility as concepts, identify critical operation insights and evaluate the prospective for primary energy savings by using Air-PVT for cooling—a novel approach compared to water-PVT and heating-focused studies.
Keywords
Air-PVT, Photovoltaic-Thermal, Desiccant cooling