Page 1 of 21
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 04
April 2019
Available online:https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 1414
EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC
THERMAL SYSTEMS
SIVANANTHAN .K
ABSTRACT
Solar energy is one of the most promising renewable
sources of energy for the present needs. Solar Photovoltaic Thermal
(PVT) system is a hybrid system used to produce both thermal and
electrical energy. The photovoltaic (PV) cells suffer efficiency drop
as their operating temperature increases under high insolation levels
and cooling is beneficial. Air or water cooling either by forced or
natural flow, offers a cheap and simple method of cooling PV cells.
The heat removal from PV panel improves its energy and
exergyefficiency.
The primary aim of the project work is to compare the
effect of air and water cooling on the performance of solar hybrid
photovoltaic thermal systems. This project presents the and
experimental investigations on Photovoltaic thermal collector (PVT)
using air and water as the coolingfluid.
In single duct air cooled collector thermal and electrical
efficiency is more than that of the multiple air-cooled collector.
Hence PVT system with water cooled collector can be installed in
buildings to harness the solar energy more efficiently.
Page 2 of 21
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 04
April 2019
Available online:https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 1415
INTRODUCTION
Energy is an important necessity for the growth of a
society. Energy consumption steadily increases due to increased
population, improved modern life and increased industrialization.
Residential buildings consume considerable amount of energy in any
country. The steady rise in living standards of the population in the
developing countries is accompanied by the increased energy
consumption in buildings. The building sector is the biggest energy
consumer before transport and industry sectors. Energy required per
capita continuously increases and it results in serious implications on
pollution, climatic change and resource depletion. With decrease in
conventional energy resources and growing environmental concerns it
is expected that solar energy is going to play a very significant role in
future.
Energy is a key factor in our interactions with the
environment. Energy consumption determines the extent of the
dependency of the human beings with the environment.
Thermal form of energy also plays an important role in
human’s life as it can generally be utilized in the form of either high- grade (high- temperature) or low-grade (low-temperature). Solar
photovoltaic and thermal
applicationsappeartobeoneofthepotentialsolutionsforcurrentenergy
needs which also compact greenhouse gas emissions.
Page 3 of 21
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 04
April 2019
Available online:https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 1416
Identification and harnessing of the new energy sources to
meet the increase in demand of energy and reducing the
environmental related problems are the best alternative for the future
global energy and environmentalproblems.
More than 85% of the incoming solar energy is either
reflected or absorbed as heat energy. For that reason, the working
temperature of the solar cells increases considerably after prolonged
operations in summer, and the cell efficiency drops significantly. This
makes the PV technology less attractive for a location with extended
period of hot weather. To improve the PV performance, much
research effort has been spent on the development of hybrid
photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) collector technology using air or water as
the coolant. Through good thermal contact between the thermal
absorber and the PV module, both the electrical efficiency and the
thermal efficiency can be improved.
The solar radiation increases the temperature of PV
modules, the electrical efficiency of the photovoltaic panel depends
on its temperature and it is reduced when the temperature increases
and resulting in a drop of their electrical efficiency. As temperature is
increased, there are two major effects in typical PV cell operation.
First, the dark saturation current of the PV cell increases which leads
to a decrease in open circuit voltage. Second, the band gap of the
photovoltaic material decreases which leads to an increase in
photocurrent.
