Evaluation of fin configurations for an air-cooled hybrid photovoltaic-thermal solar collector

Abstract

In this work, the examination of an experimental air-cooled photovoltaic-thermal module is introduced. Two different shapes of fin fixed to the copper absorber plate are examined for the classical unit of an air-cooled photovoltaic-thermal collector. Vertical and louver-shaped fins (with the same surface area) are investigated and thermally evaluated in this study. The experiments aimed to increase the temperature difference between inlet and outlet air to reach high thermal performance. The enhancement result showed that the thermal efficiency of the louver fin unit increased by 48% and 54% compared to the vertical fin and unfinned units, respectively. Thus, louver fins are better than vertical fins with the same surface area.