Analysis of thermal and electrical performance of a solar PV/T air collector: Energetic study for two configurations

The hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) collectors are devices that simultaneously convert solar energy into electricity and heat. In this paper, an attempt is made to investigate the thermal and electrical performance of a solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector. We have examined the effect of adding a cover glass and a metal plate on improving heat transfer and energy performance of a photovoltaic/thermal hybrid collector. In the proposed configuration of the hybrid collector PV/T, the air goes through a double circulation below the photovoltaic module (between the metal plate and the PV module) and above (between the PV module and the glass cover). A series of energy balance equations governing heat transfer phenomena in the hybrid collector is developed and analyzed in terms of various thermal and electrical parameters. A computer simulation program is developed in order to calculate the thermal and electrical parameters of a PV/T air collector, this numerical program allowed us to get a good accuracy of the results, which are close to the experimental results of Joshi and al [08], and permits a good evaluation of the different electrical and thermal performance of the studied device (temperature distributions, power, thermal and electrical performance, The electrical, thermal and overall thermal efficiencies are 9.5 % and 70% respectively noted with an air flow of 0.0124 kg/s and a sample of experimental climate data for the month of June on the Algiers site.