Indoor Performance Analysis of a Novel Double-Pass photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) Asymmetric Compound Parabolic Concentrator (ACPC) Solar Collector

Abstract

Abstract A photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar collector combines solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and solar thermal that operates simultaneously to generate electricity and thermal energy. Design parameters, operating conditions and environmental factors all have a significant impact on the performance of a PV/T solar collector. This research investigates the influence of the variation in the air mass flow rate to the performance of a novel double-pass photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) asymmetric compound parabolic concentrator (PV/T-ACPC) solar collector. To investigate performance of the solar collector, it was tested indoors using a solar simulator at average solar radiation of 800 W/m2 with the variation in the air mass flow rate ranging from 0.0074 kg/s to 0.0900 kg/s. From the analysis, we found that as the air mass flow rate increases, the thermal efficiency and electrical efficiency increases from 37.15 % to 60.51 %, and 2.51 % to 3.29 % respectively. Meanwhile while the difference in the air output temperature and PV panel temperature were found to decrease from 19.64 °C to 2.63 °C, and 66.83 °C to 41.86 °C respectively. We also found that, as the mass flow rate continues to increase, it will reach its ‘optimum point’ and approaching a plateau at mass flow rate of 0.0262 kg/s. The finding is crucial since the collector needs to be operated at its optimum flow rate to ensure optimum efficiencies at the optimum temperature rise of the useful air supply.