Coupled Model of Heat and Power Flow in Unventilated PV/PCM Wall-Validation in a Component Scale

Abstract

The paper concerns the problem of the modeling of the thermal interaction between the phase change material (PCM) and photovoltaic (PV) panel, in the case of unventilated construction. The study aims to develop the numerical model of such a building element to support its proper future design under variable boundary conditions. The need for such a study comes from the realization of the research project which aims at developing a novel energy-activated thermal insulation composite system. Two different methods of PCM simulation using ESP-r software were compared. The model that was finally proposed was validated against experimental data, which proved its robustness. The MBE for the simulated and measured temperatures on the back of the PV panel did not exceed 2.0 °C and the maximum observed energy production difference was 4 Wh/m2.