Study of a Thermal–photovoltaic Solar Hybrid System
Abstract
The solar hybrid panel used in this research includes, besides a PV part, a heat acquisition part consisting of flat heat pipes and heat collection pipe on the back of the solar PV module. The system is capable of simultaneously converting solar energy into both electricity and heat. It has the potential to improve total solar energy conversion efficiency while reducing generation losses caused by rising temperature of the solar PV module. This study aims to achieve practical use of this solar hybrid panel. The report describes basic characteristic of the heat pipe used for the heat-collecting module. The energy balance of the system was simulated and compared against measurement data. Sensitivity analysis was also performed. As a result, the heat pipe was found to function normally when the angle of tilt is at least 10 degrees.
Keywords
Photovoltaic, Solar thermal, Hybrid, Experiment, Simulation