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Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) System:
Effect of Active Cooling
TEO HAN GUAN
(B.Sc Eng. (NCKU))
A THESIS SUBMITTED
FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
2010
Acknowledgements
I am deeply grateful to my supervisors, Assistant Professor Lee Poh Seng and
Associate Professor Hawlader M.N.A, for giving me the guidance, insight,
encouragement, and independence to pursue my research. Their advice, contributions
and invaluable comments inspired me.
I would also like to thank Mr. Yeo Khee Ho, Mr. Chew Yew Lin, Mr. Anwar
Sadat and Mrs. Roslina Bte Abdullah who helped me with the setting up of my
experimental rig. Also, I would like to express my gratitude to my colleagues, Yan Lin,
Wai Soong, Kim Seng, Jayaprakash, Hwang Sheng, Yong Jiun, Sivanand, Karthik B,
Karthik S, Aung Myat, and Satyanarayana for their kind help and valuable advice.
I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my parents, sisters and brother for
their encouragement and support for the entire duration of this project. Besides, I am
also grateful to my friends, especially Miss Lim Sze Huey, who supported and
encouraged me to come to Singapore for further study.
Lastly, I offer my regards and blessing to all of those who love, care and
supported me during the completion of the project.
i
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
i
Table of Contents
ii
Summary
v
List of Tables
vii
List of Figures
vii
Nomenclature
xii
Chapter 1
Introduction
1
1.1
Energy today
1
1.2
Solar Energy
3
1.2.1
Fundamental
3
1.2.2
Solar Thermal Collector
3
1.2.3
Solar Photovoltaic
4
1.2.4
Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) System
5
1.3
Objectives
5
1.4
Scope
6
Literature Review
7
2.1
Water cooled PV/T
7
2.2
Air cooled PV/T
15
Design of Manifold
26
3.1
Simulation of Different Configurations
26
3.2
Manifold Design of Experiment
29
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
ii
Experimental Set-up
32
4.1
Description of the PV/T system
32
4.2
Experimental Components
35
4.2.1
Solar Cells
35
4.2.2
Maximum Power Point Tracker
37
4.2.3
Battery Bank
39
4.2.4
Active Cooling Device-Dc Blower and AC Blower
40
4.2.5
Solar Lamp
42
Chapter 4
4.3
4.4
Experimental Measurements
42
4.3.1
Data Logger and 20 Channels Multiplexer
42
4.3.2
Pyranometer
43
4.3.3
T-type Thermocouple
44
4.3.3.1 Ambient Temperature
44
4.3.3.2 Temperature Difference Across the PV Panel
46
4.3.3.3 Inlet and Outlet Air Temperature
47
4.3.4
Anemometer
47
4.3.5
Shunt Resistor
48
Experimental Procedures
49
Mathematical Formulation
51
5.1
Description of the numerical simulation model
52
5.2
Assumptions of the numerical simulation model
52
5.3
The analysis of heat transfer on Photovoltaic cell
52
5.4
Meteorological data of Singapore
63
Chapter 5
iii
Results and Discussion
66
6.1
Thermal performance
67
6.2
Electrical performance
78
6.3
Comparison of experimental and simulated results
99
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Conclusion
104
Chapter 8
Recommendation
106
References
109
Appendices
117
Appendix A
Manufacturer’s Specifications
117
Appendix B
Calibration of T-type thermocouple
121
Appendix C
Derivation of the result
126
Appendix D
Process log of Simulation
127
iv
Summary
This thesis discusses aspects of a photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system which has
been designed to produce both electricity and hot air concurrently. Experiments were
conducted under outdoor conditions to determine the influence of the temperature of
the PV cell on the PV conversion efficiency. At higher operating temperatures of the
PV module, the conversion efficiency of the module can be drastically reduced due to
the significant reduction in the open circuit voltage of the photovoltaic cell. For this
reason, the payback period of the PV system is extended and the lifespan of the PV
module may also be shortened. In order to resolve this problem, several different
cooling techniques can be utilised to more effectively dissipate the heat from PV
module. In this work, forced convective air cooling is utilised to reduce the operating
temperature of the PV module.
It was found that without active air cooling, the temperature of the PV module
was high and solar cells could only achieve a conversion efficiency of only 8 to 9%.
However, when the PV module was operated under active air cooling condition, the
temperature dropped significantly, leading to an increase in the efficiency of solar cells
to between 12 and 14%. The heat which was extracted from the PV module by the
cooling air can contribute to the overall energy output of the system. Hence, the overall
v
system efficiency is no longer only limited by PV conversion efficiency but also
include the thermal efficiency which ranges between 45 to 55 %.
A variable speed blower is studying the effect of flow rate on the electrical
efficiency of PV module. The results showed that the optimum flow rate of this system
is around 0.055 kg/s. The flow field analysis of a parallel array of ducts with
inlet/outlet manifold was simulated using the commercial computational fluid dynamic
(CFD) package – Fluent. The simulation results showed that with a properly designed
manifold, a uniform flow distribution can be obtained. Uniform flow field can evenly
dissipate the heat from the PV module and reduce the occurrence of hotspots. A
mathematical model has been developed to investigate the heat transfer performance of
the PV module under actual meteorological conditions. The absorptivities and
transmittivities of the cover glass, Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), silicon cell are also
considered in the numerical simulation. The simulation results showed good agreement
with the experimental results.
vi
List of Tables
Table 5.1 Thermal Properties of the Material
62
Table 6.1 Thermal efficiency for different flow rate
76
List of Figures
Figure 1.1 World energy demand
1
Figure 2.1 Water PV/T collector
7
Figure 2.2 Water and air mixed-type PV/T collectors
8
Figure 2.3 Hybrid PV/T system schematic
11
Figure 2.4 Monthly changes of available energy gain by exergetic evaluation on
Electrical
12
Figure 2.5 Monthly changes of available energy gain by exergetic evaluation on
Thermal
12
Figure 2.6 (a) Cross-sectional view of unglazed PV/thermal air (i) with tedlar (Model I)
(ii) without tedlar (Model II). (b) Cross-sectional view of glazed
PV/T air (i) with tedlar (Model III), (ii) without tedlar (Model IV)
17
Figure 2.7 (a) Hourly variation of electrical efficiency for a, b, c, d type weather
conditions considering glass to glass PV module with duct 18
Figure 2.8 Daily average of electrical efficiency for a, b, c, d type weather conditions
considering glass to glass PV module with duct.
18
Figure 2.9 Schematics of the double pass photovoltaic thermal solar collector
19
Figure 2.10 Schematic representation of the reflector assembly for a collector unit 20
Figure 2.11 PV module electrical efficiency as function of its operating temperature
for the typical and the combined with diffuse reflector mode
25
vii
Figure 3.1 FLUENT results
27
Figure 3.2 FLUENT results (cont’d)
28
Figure 3.3 3D model of parallel array air duct. Red arrows show the direction of air
flow
29
Figure 3.4 Engineering sketch drawing
30
Figure 4.1 Photograph of the outdoor transient testing set up
32
Figure 4.2 Schematic diagram of the experimental set-up
34
Figure 4.3 Polycrystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cell
35
Figure 4.4 Structure of Photovoltaic Panel
35
Figure 4.5 The working wavelength of different type of solar cells
37
Figure 4.6 IV Curve and the maximum power point
38
Figure 4.7 MPPT Solar Charger Controller
39
Figure 4.8 Deep Cycle Gel Battery
40
Figure 4.9 DC Blower
41
Figure 4.10 AC Blower
41
Figure 4.11 Solar lamp
42
Figure 4.12 Hewlett-Packard data logger
43
Figure 4.13 20-channel relay multiplexer
43
Figure 4.14 Eppley pyranometer
44
Figure 4.15 T-type Thermocouple
44
viii
Figure 4.16 T type thermocouple miniature connector
45
Figure 4.17 Location which put the thermo probe
45
Figure 4.18 The arrangement of T-type thermocouple
46
Figure 4.19 Inlet thermal Probe
47
Figure 4.20 Outlet Thermal Probe
47
Figure 4.21 Anemometer
48
Figure 4.22 Voltage of the PV panel can be measured directly by connecting to
datalogger.
49
Figure 5.1 Diagram of principal reflections, absorptions and transmissions for a silicon
PV cell imbedded in EVA
53
Figure 5.2 Friction Factor under different Air Flow velocity
59
Figure 5.3 Heat Transfer Coefficient under different Air flow velocity
60
Figure 5.4 Solar Irradiation of Simulation
64
Figure 5.5 Ambient temperature of Simulation
65
Figure 6.1 Irradiation and Average Panel Temperature for the whole day under cooling
condition (23 September 2009)
67
Figure 6.2 Irradiation and Average Panel Temperature for the whole day without
cooling condition (28 September 2009)
68
Figure 6.3 Module Temperature as a function of solar irradiation
69
Figure 6.4 Temperature profile at centre the duct PV module.
69
Figure 6.5 Temperature profile at side of duct.
70
Figure 6.6 Top view of velocity contour of manifold design
71
ix
Figure 6.7 Cross section view of velocity contour of manifold design
71
Figure 6.8 Top view of the pressure contour of manifold design
72
Figure 6.9 Temperature profile of the front glass of module
73
Figure 6.10 Temperature profile of inlet and outlet flow
74
Figure 6.11 Variation of temperature difference (To-Ti) with incident radiation for
flow rate 0.0389 kg/s and 0.0932 kg/s
75
Figure 6.12 Thermal efficiency as a function of (Ti-Ta)/G
76
Figure 6.13 Influence of flow rate on thermal efficiency
77
Figure 6.14 Electrical efficiency as a function of PV temperature at irradiation at
1000W/m2
78
Figure 6.15 Electrical efficiency as a function of PV temperature at irradiation at
250W/m2
79
Figure 6.16 A comparison between theoretical and experimental results
81
Figure 6.17 Influence of flow rate on electrical efficiency
82
Figure 6.18 Influence of temperature difference (To-Ti) on electrical efficiency for
different flow rate
84
Figure 6.19 PV electrical power output under different solar radiation
89
Figure 6.20 Solar radiation of the entire day and the corresponded PV current due to
the solar radiation (23 September 2009)
89
Figure 6.21 Solar irradiation and the PV Voltage for the entire day (23 September
2009)
90
Figure 6.22 Solar radiation and the PV Voltage for the entire day (8 June 2009)
x
91
Figure 6.23 Solar radiation of the entire day and the corresponded PV current due to
the solar radiation (8 June 2009)
91
Figure 6.24 Battery and blower voltage of partially discharged battery bank (23
September 2009)
92
Figure 6.25 Battery and blower voltage of fully charged battery bank (8 June 2009) 93
Figure 6.26 PV current generated by module in case: (a) partially discharged battery
and (b) fully charged battery
94
Figure 6.27 Electrical Efficiency of fully charged and partially discharged at the
similar meteorological condition
95
Figure 6.28 Input solar radiation and thermal and electrical energy production over
five days
96
Figure 6.29 Electrical and thermal energy and the total energy gain over the five days
96
Figure 6.30 A comparison of thermal and electrical efficiency over 5 days.
97
Figure 6.31 A comparison of simulation and experiment in the temperature profile of
the back of PV module
100
Figure 6.32 A comparison of simulation and experiment in the temperature profile of
the front of PV module
100
Figure 6.33 Temperature contour of the PV cell at 1:30 pm (highest solar radiation on
that day)
101
Figure 6.34 Temperature gradient of the PV module at 1:30 pm
102
Figure 8.1 Spectral absorption coefficient of pure water (solid line) and of pure sea
water (dotted line) as a function of wavelength.
107
Figure 8.2: Transparent water passage in front of the PV panel to pre-filter the solar
irradiation before it strikes the solar cell.
108
xi
Nomenclature
A
area of the PV module
m2
Axs
flow cross-sectional area
m2
c
light speed
m/s
cp
specific heat capacity under constant pressure
J/kg·k
D
distance from sun to the earth
m
Ec
net energy absorbed by the cell
W/m2
Ece
electrical energy produced by photovoltaic cell
W/m2
Ect
thermal energy released by photovoltaic cell
W/m2
ET
rate of solar energy absorbed by Tedlar
W/m2
F
Radiant Flux Density
W/m2
FF
Fill factor
--
G
solar irradiation
W/m2
Ho
Solar Constant
W/m2
Hsun
radiation intensity
W/m2
h
Planck’s constant
J·s
hc
convection coefficient of air
W/m2·℃
hg
convective heat transfer coefficient of the glass
W/m2·℃
I
current
A
IL
light generated current
A
I0
dark saturation current of diode
A
IMP
maximum current
A
Isc
short circuit current
A
K
Boltzmann’s constant
J/K
k
thermal conductivity
W/K·m
xii
m
mass flow rate
kg/s
Nu
Nusselt number
--
n
ideality factor
--
P
wetted perimeter
m
p
cell packing factor
--
Pel
electrical power ouput
W
Pr
Prandtl number
--
q
electron charge
C
qc
the heat which convected away by the air flow
W/m2·℃
Re
Reynolds number
--
Rsun
radius of Sun
m
T
temperature
℃
Ta
ambient temperature
℃
(Ta-6℃) sky temperature
℃
Tb
temperature of backsheet
℃
Tc
cell temperature
℃
Tg
glass temperature
℃
Ti
inlet temperature of the air flow
℃
To
outlet temperature of air flow
℃
V
voltage
V
VMP
maximum voltage
V
Voc
open circuit voltage
V
v
wind speed
m/s
um
mean fluid velocity
m/s
λ
wavelength of incident ray
μm
xiii
Greek Letters
σ
Stefan-Boltzman constant
Wm-2K-4
ψB
radiated energy
Wm-2
αc
cell absorptivity
--
τg
fraction transmitted through the front glass
--
ηo
nominal electrical efficiency under standard condition
--
ηe
cell electrical efficiency
--
β
temperature coefficient of silicon cell
C-1
αT
absorptivity of the Tedlar
--
εg
emittance of the glass
--
αg
absorptivity of glass
--
θ
module inclination to the horizontal
--
v
kinematic viscosity
m2s-1
μ
dynamic viscosity
kgm-1s-1
α
thermal diffusivity
Jm-3k-1
ηtotal
total efficiency
--
ηth
thermal efficiency
--
Subscripts and superscripts
a
ambient
b
backsheet
c
cell
e
electrical
g
glass
h
hydraulic
xiv
loss
losses
m
mean
MP
maximum power
oc
open circuit
pv
Photovoltaic
s
sun
sc
short circuit
SH
shunt
T
Tedlar
th
thermal
xv
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Energy Today
Energy is currently an important issue all over the world. The demand for fossil
fuel has grown steadily due to increased industrial activities in developing and
developed countries. It is estimated that the world energy demand will increase by
45% between 2006 and 2030, and the rate of increase will be 1.6% per year [1]. Fig
1.1 shows the estimated world primary energy demand from 1980 to 2030.
Figure 1.1 World energy demands [1]
In general, fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal can be considered as
primary sources of energy, especially, oil is the dominant fuel of the world. The
1
increase of the energy demand may be met by utilizing fossil fuel resources but the
amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere will reach a dangerous level.
The WG 3 – Mitigation of Climate Change [2] indicated that over the last three
decades, greenhouse gases emissions have increased by an average 1.6% per year with
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the use of fossil fuels growing at a rate of 1.9%
per year. According to the fourth assessment report from 2007 Inter-governmental
Panel on Climate Change [3], the increases of sea level are consistent with global
warming. Furthermore, global average sea level rose at an average of 1.8 mm per year
over 1961 to 2003 and at an average of about 3.1 mm per year 1993 to 2003. The rise
of the sea level is attributed to the melting of snow and ice in the Arctic Sea due to the
global warming effect.
Renewable energies including solar energy, wind power, hydropower, biofuel,
geothermal energy are suggested to provide a solution to resolve the global warming
problem and alleviate the potential of energy crisis. The demand of fossil fuels will be
reduced when the renewable energies become popular in the energy market.
Furthermore, potential climate change will be mitigated when the renewable energies
replace fossil fuels in the future. Solar energy is one of the most promising energy
sources with solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface at a rate approximately 80,000
TW and this figure is more than 10,000 times the present consumption of energy in the
2
world.
1.2
Solar Energy
1.2.1
Fundamental
The surface temperature of the sun is 5778 K. The core temperatures of sun reach
over 15 million K and the energy of the sun comes from nuclear fusion reaction from
H to He that take place deep inside the sun’s core [4]. The sun can be considered as a
blackbody radiator at the surface temperature. According to the Planck’s radiation law
for blackbody, the solar constant is approximately to 1368W/m2. The solar constant is
defined as the incoming power that Sun would deposits per unit area that is directly
exposed to sunlight. To harness the great amount of solar energy, solar thermal
collectors and solar photovoltaic cells have been used to convert the solar energy into
heat and electricity for various applications.
1.2.2
Solar Thermal Collector
Solar thermal energy can be interpreted as direct conversion of the energy from
solar radiation to useful thermal energy. The heat is generated by the absorption of
sun’s ray through a dark coated material, called absorber. The absorber actually is a
system of pipes filled up with a heat transfer medium, and the medium flows to the
collector to collect the heat from sun’s ray and goes back to the hot water store. In
some systems, the heat exchanger is used to extract heat from the water-glycol mixture
3
that is circulated in a closed circuit; is called an indirect system. Other systems, in
which pure water is used as the heat transfer medium, are called drainback systems.
Flat plat collectors are utilised chiefly for domestic hot water heating for showering,
washing and some industrial applications. The efficiency of a solar collector drops
drastically at high temperatures due to heat losses from the large surface area of
collector. Evacuated tube collectors are always utilized for applications at high
temperature and they are very efficient since they contain several rows of glass tube
and the air in the glass also removed from it to reduce the heat loss through the
convection effect. Therefore, the collector can operate at high efficiency and high
temperature.
1.2.3
Solar Photovoltaic cell
The Photovoltaic cell is made of semiconductor materials and used to convert
sunlight into direct-current electricity. When light with wavelengths less than 1100nm
strikes a PV crystalline cell, electron hole pairs are created in the cell, the electric field
sends the electrons from p-type to n-type silicon and the holes from n-type to p-type.
Disruption of electrical neutrality occurs during the photovoltaic effect. An external
load is needed to restore the equilibrium. The external load will provide a current path
which allows electrons to flow from n-type to p-type silicon; electron recombines with
the hole when it reaches the p-type silicon. The photocurrent is generated when the
4
electron passes through the external load.
The electrical efficiency of the PV cell is significantly affected by the operating
temperature. The electrical efficiency of PV cell linearly decreases when the operating
temperature increases, which is an advantage of the PVT system.
1.2.4 Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) System
A photovoltaic/thermal hybrid system (or PVT system) is a combination of
photovoltaic and solar thermal system. The PVT system can produce both electricity
and heat simultaneously. The PVT system refers to a system that extracts heat from the
panel with using heat transfer fluid, usually water or air and sometimes both. There are
several reasons which motivate the development of the PV/T system. One of the main
reasons is that PV/T system can provide higher efficiency than individual PV and
thermal collector system. With increased the efficiency, the payback period of the
system can also be shortened.
1.3 Objectives
The objectives of this study are
1. To design a manifold to ensure uniform flow distribution.
2. To investigate how active air cooling affects photovoltaic module
performance.
5
3. To find the optimum flow rate for the PV/T system under operation.
1.4 Scope
Chapter 1 gives an introduction and brief discussion of the importance and
potential of solar energy and some solar technologies. Chapter 2 is a literature review
of water and air cooled PV/T and includes a summary of the state of the art of the
water and air cooled PV/T. The characteristics of the PV/T will also be investigated in
detail. Since the PV/T-air cooled system is discussed in this project, the detailed
description of the manifold design, which used in current experiment is provided in
Chapter 3. In Chapter 4, the components and functions of the system are described
clearly. Chapter 5 presents the mathematical formulation of the heat transfer on
Photovoltaic cell. The results of experiment and simulation are discussed in Chapter 6.
The experimental data is categorized into 3 parts, thermal performance, electrical
performance and the comparison of experimental and simulation result. Chapter 7
provides conclusion to the entire study and discusses the overall performance of the
experiment. Chapter 8 provides some ideas, which may significantly improve the
overall performance of the PV/T system.
6
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Nowadays, for the PV/T system applications, production of the electricity
becomes more important. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the operating temperature
of the PV module as low as possible to ensure that its conversion efficiency is
maintained within an acceptable range. In these couple of years, PV/T-air and
PV/T-water systems have been widely investigated and different kinds of
configurations developed to test the overall performance of the combined system.
Numerical simulation of PV/T systems has also provided more detailed information on
the performance of the system.
2.1 Water cooled PV/T
Figure 2.1 Water PV/T collector [15].
7
Figure 2.2 Water and air mixed-type PV/T collectors [5].
Figure 2.1 shows the common configurations of current PV/T systems in use
today nowadays. Water and air are the most common media utilised rather than
refrigerants since the overall cost of the entire system increases due to the capital cost
and maintenance cost for the refrigerant loop. Generally, water is the most effective
fluid to collect the heat from the PV panel and absorber due to its high heat capacity
and thermal conductivity.
Basically, water type PV/T can be categorized according to the water flow pattern
as shown in Fig 3.2. The parameters involved in the design are the sheet, tube, free
flow, channel and absorber types [6]. Numerical analysis is more preferable in
investigating the preliminary studies since it can provide an optimum model before
fabricating the prototype. The first mathematical model of PV/T collector was
8
published by Florschuetz [7]. He modified the Hottel-Willier [8] analytical model for
flat plat thermal collector in order to apply the equations to PV/T collectors. Some
parameters (such as heat removal factor and collector efficiency factor) of the
Hottel-Willier model are still available to be utilised in the PV/T collectors.
A dynamical model and three steady state models have been investigated by
Zondag [9]. He also carried out a prototype experiment to validate the simulated result
generated by his model. All models show good agreement with the experiment within
5% accuracy. Sandnes and Reskstad [10] have developed a polymer solar collector
which combines with crystalline silicon PV cell in a hybrid generating unit. This model
was developed by modifying the Hottel and Willier model for flat plate thermal
collector. Their experiments show that attaching PV cells onto an absorbing surface
reduces the solar energy absorbed by about 10%. This is because that the absorptivity
of PV cell is lower compared to the black absorber.
Zakherchenko [11] showed the importance of having good thermal contact
between the solar cells and thermal absorber. Their study indicates that some
commercial PVT modules should not be used directly in PVT system. Huang et al. [12]
investigated the performance between the integrated photovoltaic and thermal solar
system IPVTS and conventional solar water heater. A corrugated polycarbonate panel
was used to make the solar PV/T collector and the characteristic daily thermal
9
efficiency and primary-energy saving of the collector is 38% and 60%. A hybrid
photovoltaic/thermal water-heating system with natural circulation was constructed by
Jie Ji et al. [13]. Their experiment results showed that the characteristic daily
primary-energy saving could reach up to 65% for this system. The simulated result also
showed that the higher the packing factor and glazing transmissivity, the better is the
overall system performance. Wei He et al [14] indicated that a good thermal-contact
between the absorber and the PV module can significantly increase both thermal and
electrical efficiency of the system. Fin performance of the heat exchanger is also a
crucial factor to boost the overall efficiency.
Chow [15] presented an explicit dynamic model for operation of PV/T collector
since it is not suitable to use a steady state model to predict the working temperatures
of the PV module and the heat removal fluid was also under fluctuating irradiance or
intermittent fluid flow. For that reason, the transient case can more accurately predict
the outcome of experiments. That model was developed based on the control-volume
finite difference approach. The proposed model can provide a detailed analysis of the
transient energy flow through different types of collector components and the
instantaneous energy output can also be monitored.
A simulation of PV/T system was carried out by using the well known TRNSYS
program by Kalogirou [16]. They used the typical meteorological data of Cyprus and
10
the optimized water flow rate via simulation. The system consists of a series of PV
panels, a battery bank, a hot water storage cylinder, a pump, a differential thermostat
and an inverter (Fig 2.3).
Figure 2.3 Hybrid PV/T system schematic diagram [19]
Fujiwa and Tani [17] used exergy analysis to evaluate the experimental
performance of a designed PV/T system since exergy can be used to qualitatively
compare the thermal and electrical energy based on the same standard.
11
Figure 2.4 Monthly changes of available energy gain by exergetic
evaluation on electrical [17]
Figure 2.4 shows that the coverless PV/T collector produces the highest electrical
exergy and Figure 2.5 shows that thermal exergy of the coverless PV/T was the lowest
amongst the system considered. The latter may be due to heat losses from the top of
the device.
Figure 2.5 Monthly changes of available energy gain by exergetic
evaluation on thermal [17]
12
The thermal exergy with monthly changes is presented in Fig 2.5.Flow rate affects
the performance of PV/T system since the increase of water velocity in the tube will
result in increasing the heat transfer coefficient. This will help enhance the cooling on
the PV panel or collector.
Bergene and Lovvik [18] investigated the relation between the geometric
parameter W/D and the performance of the PV/T system. They reported thermal
efficiency increases by a factor of 0.1 and the flow fate increases from 0.001 to
0.0075kg/s. Chow [15] also found that when flow rate in the tube increases from 0.002
to 0.016 kg/s, the electrical and thermal efficiencies also increase. Garg and Agarwal
[19] utilised the finite difference method to investigate PV/T system with different
solar cell areas and flow rate. The system comprised of a storage tank, pump,
differential controller and PV modules. The optimum flow rate of this experiment was
0.03kg/s, for maximum thermal efficiency. It was shown that the electrical efficiency
decreased at this flow rate and was minimum when the insolation was maximum (as
the temperature of absorber is maximum).
Nishikawa et al. [20] utilised the refrigerant R22 as the liquid of PV/T collector
which function as the evaporator of a heat pump. A high COP was observed when the
system is efficiently cooled. Ito et al [21] showed that the COP of heat pump is very
low when it is under low irradiance. This is because the flat plat collector is not
13
optimised to extract the energy from the surrounding. In order to solve this problem, a
3.24 m2 multiple-fin evaporator was placed in parallel with a 2.45m2 PV/T absorber
and this resulted in an increase of COP from 2 to 3 under low irradiance conditions.
However, the COP of the system can attain a value of 6 when it is under high
irradiance.
Zondag et al [22] and Jong [23] have conducted a series of comparison between
different types of PV/T design and different types of thermal systems. Those
experiments generally investigated the covered and uncovered PV/T and thermal
system with and without heat pump. The studies indicated that an uncovered PV/T
shows improved efficiency for the case which the PV/T is utilised for low-temperature
ground storage integrated with a heat pump. The high thermal efficiency of the system
is because that the inflow air is always kept in low temperature. However, the net
electrical efficiency of the system turns into negative because of the energy
consumption of the heat pumps.
Currently, PV/T systems are always installed for residential use. In order to
investigate the actual condition of the residential building, the PV/T systems were
installed on the roof top of a residential building. Ji et al [24] installed a 40m2 PV/T
collector on a facade of the residential building in Hong Kong in order to investigate
the difference between the thin film and crystalline silicon PV cell. Under the same
14
meteorological condition, it was found that the thermal efficiency of the thin film is
48% which that of the crystalline silicon is 43%. They also proposed that the system
can also be utilized for pre-heating of hot water for residents in that building.
Furthermore, the systems can also provide cooling for the building with absorption of
heat by the wall of building reduced during the operation of PVT system. It was
concluded that the hybrid system has potential to be widely advocated in a sub-tropical
city such as Hong Kong.
Elswijk et al [25] also claimed that PVT collector arrays installed on multi-family
buildings could save about 38% in area. This is very vital due to the availability of the
roof top space per house. The disadvantage of this system is that the shading angle of
PVT collector must be smaller than the conventional solar thermal collector because of
the shading effect.
2.2 Air cooled PV/T
The first PV/T air facility was built in 1973 at the University of Delaware. This
PV/T air facility was called as ‘Solar House’ and the air collectors were integrated in
the roof top and façade of the house. Besides, one fourth of the collectors were
embedded with CdS/Cu2S cell to generate electrical energy. After the pioneering work
of University of Delaware, some laboratories such as the MIT Lincoln laboratory,
15
Sandia laboratory and Brown University also started developing the PVT air collectors.
The performance of PVT air collectors fabricated by ARCO and Spectrolab [26] was
insufficient but this first generation technology has become a motivation to boost the
development of second generation technology. The effect of thermal gradient on
electrical efficiency of PV panel was investigated by the Sandia [27].
In 1994, the French Company Cythelia [28] developed a PV-air collector, called
the Capthel collector. An unglazed PVT collector with air and liquid heat extraction
was developed and commercialised in Israel [29]. A new type PVT-air collector was
developed by the German Company Grammer Solar and the Danish company Aidt
Miljo [30,31]. This type of PVT air collector is only covered with a small PV cell
which used to drive the fan. The function of this system was utilised for
dehumidification purposes in vacation cottages.
Both experimental and numerical simulation were implemented by Tiwari [32] to
evaluate the overall performance of PV-T air collector. In this study, different kind of
configurations of PVT air collector (like unglazed, glazed, with and without tedlar)
which shown in Fig 2.6 were used to investigate the electrical and thermal
performance. It was shown that the glazed PVT air collector without tedlar provides
the best performance.
16
Figure 2.6. (a) Cross-sectional view of unglazed PV/thermal air (i) with tedlar (Model
I), (ii) without tedlar (Model II). (b) Cross-sectional view of glazed
PV/thermal air (i) with tedlar (Model III), (ii) without tedlar (Model IV).
A PVT-air collector was investigated by Garg and Adhikari [33] using a computer
simulation model. It was concluded that the thermal efficiency of the absorber without
solar cell is higher than that when the absorber is covered with the solar cell. This is
because that some of the incidence irradiance is converted into electrical energy.
Dubey et al [34] reported the efficiency of different configurations of PVT-air collector
(Case A-Glass to glass PV module with duct, Case B-Glass to glass PV module
without duct, Case C-Glass to tedlar PV module with duct, Case D-Glass to tedlar PV
module without duct). It was indicated that case A can give the highest efficiency
among the all four cases. The annual average efficiency of case A and B is 10.41% and
9.75%, respectively. The daily average electrical efficiency of the four cases are
17
presented in Figs 2.7 and 2.8
Figure. 2.7. (a) Hourly variation of electrical efficiency for a, b, c, d type weather
conditions considering glass to glass PV module with duct.
Figure 2.8 Daily average of electrical efficiency for a, b, c, d type weather conditions
considering glass to glass PV module with duct.
Hegazy [35] did a comparative study of the performance on four types of PVT
solar air collectors. Their results showed that the air flow on both sides of the absorber
in a single pass demands the least fan power.
18
Figure 2.9 Schematic diagram of a double pass photovoltaic thermal solar collector
Sopian [36] developed a double pass PVT air collector (Fig 2.9) for solar drying
application. Solar cells were put between the glass cover and absorber plate. The air
first enters the channel created by the glass cover and photovoltaic panel and next it
enters the channel created between the photovoltaic panel and absorber. This
configuration can greatly reduce the heat loss and increase its thermal efficiency. The
thermal efficiency of this system can reach to 60%. Some simpler modifications were
utilised to enhance the thermal performance of the air duct and this will help enhance
heat extraction from the PVT air collector.
Prasad and Saini [37] reported that the heat transfer mechanism of the solar
collector can be enhanced by artificially increasing the roughness of absorber plate and
wall of the channel, leading to higher thermal efficiency. However, high roughness of
wall and absorber will induce a higher friction factor and therefore a higher pumping
19
power is needed. Han et al [38] and Gupta et al [39] showed that several types of ribs
in the air channel can provide better performance in heat extraction but it is also
accompanied by a significant increase in friction losses. Some modifications like using
the pins, matrices, porous materials and perforated plates were suggested to improve
the heat extraction in the air channel. However, most of them are not practical to
significantly enhance the overall system performance. Garg and Datta [40] suggested
several practical modifications to enhance the heat transfer in air duct. In the study,
both experiment and numerical simulation were undertaken and the agreement
between the theoretical predictions and experimental results has been satisfactorily.
Figure 2.10 Schematic representation of the reflector assembly for a collector unit.
Garg et al. [41] presented a study of a PVT air hybrid system, this system
20
comprised a plane booster and a flat plat collector mounted with photovoltaic cells
(Fig 2.10). It was concluded that the electrical efficiency of photovoltaic cell will
linearly decrease with increase of the absorber temperature. The results also indicated
that the minimum area of photovoltaic cell needed to operate a pump at a given flow
rate is a function of time. The plane boosters were utilised to reflect the extra incident
rays to the photovoltaic cell in order to increase the intensity of sunlight on the
photovoltaic module.
Optimization the absorber geometry for solar air heating collector has been
investigated by Pottler [42]. It was reported that the optimized distance between the
fins is about 5 to 10 mm. The thermal efficiency of the collector can attain to 77% with
optimized geometry. As the pressure drop increases drastically with decreasing fin
spacing, this factor should also be considered in the design.
Naphon [43] carried out a study on the performance and entropy generation of the
double pass solar air heater with longitudinal fins. The study showed that the thermal
efficiency increases with increasing flow rate as the heat transfer is proportional to the
mass flow rate. The number and height of fins will also increase the heat transfer rate
due to the increase of heat transfer area. Hence, the thermal efficiency is proportional
to the number and height of fins. However, the entropy generation was found to
decrease with increasing height of fins. This is because the outlet temperature increases
21
with increase of height of fins.
Tonui and Tripanagnostopoulos [44] also reported an improvement of heat
extraction achieved by modifying the channels of PV/T air system in low cost. Three
different configurations of air ducts (simple air channel, thin aluminum sheet and
rectangular fin) were investigated by experiment and numerical simulation. Some
parameters (channel length, channel depth and mass flow rate) were used to study the
effect on electrical and thermal efficiency. From the result of experiment and
simulation, a good agreement has been presented and air duct with fins were shown
more effective in enhancing the heat transfer from the wall of the channels to air flow.
Sopian et al [45] presented a steady state simulation of the single and double pass
combined photovoltaic thermal air collector. The simulations indicated that the double
pass photovoltaic thermal collector has superior performance during the operation. The
difference of thermal efficiency for single and double pass combined photovoltaic
thermal collector is about 10%. The air flow in the double pass combined thermal
collector can absorb more thermal energy than that in the single pass. Therefore, the
thermal efficiency of the double pass is higher than that of the single pass. Due to the
large amount of heat absorbed by the air flow, the temperature of the photovoltaic
module decreased significantly and this causes the electrical efficiency of the double
pass was higher than single pass as well.
22
Garg and Adhikari [46] developed a simulation model to investigate the
performance of single glass and double glass hybrid photovoltaic thermal air heating
collector. The thermal performance of the double-glass configuration was found to be
better than single glass for a normal black paint absorber. This is because the extra
layer of glass can reduce the radiative losses from absorber to glass cover.
For a selective absorber, the thermal efficiency of single-glass is higher than that
of double-glass as the effective transmittance-absorptance product also decreases when
the sun ray passes through the double-glass. The parametric studies showed that the
overall system efficiency increases with the increase in cell density, collector length
and mass flow rate. However, the increase of duct depth will incur the decrease in
system efficiency.
Joshi et al [47] carried out an evaluation of a hybrid photovoltaic thermal system.
Two types of PV module (glass to tedlar and glass to glass) were utilized to investigate
the performance under the climate of New Delhi. The results showed that the overall
performance of hybrid thermal collector with PV module glass-to-glass is better than
glass-to-tedlar. Parametric studies also indicated that thermal efficiency decreases with
the increase of length of the duct. It is because the thermal energy which can be
extracted at the back of PV module decreases. The highest thermal efficiency obtained
from the experiment was 46.28%. Thermal efficiency also increases with air velocity.
23
However, as the air velocity exceeds a certain level, thermal efficiency remains at a
constant level. This could be explained as the time of contact of air with module
reduces and therefore decreases the heat removal from the back of PV module.
Tripanagnostopoulos et al [48] presented a hybrid PV/T experimental model to
investigate the temperature effect on PV electrical efficiency. A booster diffuse
reflector was also utilized to enhance the electrical and thermal performance of the
system. It was found that PV electrical efficiency decreases at the rate of 0.1%/℃.
However, with the diffuse reflector, the electrical efficiency decreased at the rate of
0.0957%/℃ and 0.0814%/℃ for concentration factor at 1.3 and 1.5 respectively. In
this study, a comparison between water cooled and air cooled PVT were presented.
The PV module with thermal insulation leads to high temperature and incurs an
electrical efficiency drop (ηel/insul=0.113), and water cooled PV and air cooled PV with
ηel/water=0.128, ηel/air=0.126, respectively.
24
Figure 2.11 The PV module electrical efficiency as function of its operating
temperature for the typical PV and combined PV with diffuse reflector mode
Tripanagnostopoulos [49] also showed that the electrical efficiency of PV module
increases by 2% with using the diffuse reflector and without incurring significant
penalty in temperature rise. The decreasing rate of temperature effect in electrical
efficiency was also found to be 0.1%/℃.
25
CHAPTER 3
DESIGN OF MANIFOLD
A parallel arrangement of air ducts underneath the PV panels is used to create the
passage for the air to pass through. Fins are incorporated in the duct to increase the
heat transfer rate from the PV panel to the moving fluid. Non-uniform air flow usually
causes in recirculation and therefore the hot air will be trapped in the channels. This
causes the panel temperature to be unevenly distributed. A hot spot will result in the
panel and the electrical efficiency decreased due to the uneven temperature distribution
of panel. A series of simulations with different configurations of air duct is done using
the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, FLUENT. The results of the
simulation are presented in the Figs 3.1 and 3.2.
3.1 Simulation of Different Configurations
From the results, it can be seen that the re-circulated flows are significant in the C
shaped and S shaped ducts. These flows will result in the fluid flowing back towards
the inlet instead of the outlet, and this reverse flow will be heated up. The flow will
cause the PV module which attached atop of manifold having an uneven temperature
profile.
26
C-shaped duct with vanes at inlet
C-shaped duct
Duct with 1 inlet and 2 outlets
V-shaped
Figure 3.1. FLUENT results
27
S-shaped
S-shaped duct with a protruding vane
S-shaped duct with vanes at inlet
C-shaped duct with a L-shaped
Figure 3.2 FLUENT results (cont’d)
28
In the V shaped duct, the simulations indicate no reverse flow and most of the
fluid flows through the centre channels resulting in the uneven heating of the PV
modules. The latter will also seriously affect the overall performance of the PV
module.
3.2 Manifold Design of Experiment
Following the simulation results of the V shaped design, a 90° change in flow
direction has been applied in current design. This will alleviate the focusing of fluid in
the centre channels and recirculation flow can also be avoided in this design.
Figure 3.3 3D model of parallel array air duct. Red arrows show the direction of air
flow
29
Figure 3.4. Engineering sketch drawing
30
The manifold design shown in Fig 4.6 has a uniform flow field in the simulation.
The simulation results are presented in Chapter 6. The engineering sketch drawings of
the manifold design are presented in the Fig 3.4. All the needed dimensions and sizes
are clearly shown in the sketches.
The entire air duct was made of galvanized steel. Galvanized steel is the steel
coated with zinc which protects the steel from corrosion. As the experimental set up
was always locked on the roof top, it was important that this material could prevent the
air duct from being corroded by daily exposure to the elements. The modules are
incorporated in the air duct and fixed with screws. The design of air duct is also
allowed for inserting the thermocouple in the centre and both sides of the ducts.
During the experiment, gaskets were used to seal the gap between panel and panel
in order to reduce the leakage of air. Isometric views of this configuration are
presented in the Appendix. The entire air duct is put on a stainless steel rack. The
height of this rack is around 1.5 meter, to avoid shading of the PV module during
operation by other experimental set-ups on the roof top.
Summarising, this design permits the flow to enter the ducts uniformly, hence
obviating the potential hotspot problem.
31
CHAPTER 4
EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
4.1 Description of the PV/T system
A test set up was designed to investigate the thermal and electrical performances
of the Photovoltaic thermal system. This system was built on the roof top of EA
building at the National University of Singapore. The photograph of the set-up is
shown in Fig 4.1. A schematic diagram of the complete experimental set-up is shown
in Fig 4.2
Figure 4.1 Photograph of the outdoor transient testing set up
32
The current experiment is designed to investigate how the temperature affects the
electrical efficiency and power output during the operation. Four polycrystalline solar
panels were used in the experiment to generate the electricity. The electricity which
generated by the solar panels will be stored in four deep cycle gel batteries. A direct
current blower connected to the batteries, is used to extract surrounding air to cool the
panels. During the operation, a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) was used to
modulate the power output from solar panel to be the maximum value. Another
alternating current (AC) blower is also used in this experiment because it can function
as variable speed blower, so that the flow rate can be controlled by adjusting the knob
of the controller.
Solar irradiation was measured by the pyranometer, which was put at the same
level as the solar panels. In this experiment, the air speed was measured by the
anemometer and the temperature of air and PV module was obtained by using the
T-type thermocouple directly connected to the datalogger. The voltage and current of
the solar panels were directly recorded by the datalogger.
The experiments normally operated from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. In the experiment,
PV current, PV voltage, temperature of modules, temperature of inlet and outlet, wind
speed and irradiation of sunlight were collected during the operation of system.
33
Figure 4.2 Schematic diagram of the experimental set-up
34
4.2 Experimental Components
4.2.1 Solar cells
Figure 4.3 Polycrystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cell
Neste polycrystalline solar cells are used in this experiment. The photovoltaic
module consists of 36 cells, the open circuit voltage and short circuit current are 22.5
V and 3.47 A. At 1000 Watt/m2 and 25℃, the maximum power output of single
module can reach 56.7 Watt/m2.
Figure 4.4 Structure of Photovoltaic Panel
35
The structure of crystalline silicon solar cells is presented in Fig 4.4. EVA is a
kind of copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate. The polymer encapsulant which used
in PV modules serves to provide the functions like structural support, electrical
insulation, physical isolation/protection and thermal conduction for the solar cell
circuit [50].
The backsheet of photovoltaic module normally is a kind of material, called
Tedlar. The function of Tedlar is to prevent the ingress of water of water vapour. It is a
kind of polymer material, called Polyvinyl fluoride. Tedlar will also provide the
functions like UV resistance, mechanical properties, strength and durability, resistance
of weathering and electrical insulation. All of these functions will help PV panel to
sustain at least 20 years and above. Part of the backsheet is normally made as a
laminated film composite and the most common structure is the trilayer structure of
Tedlar/Polyester/Tedlar, also called TPT. This kind of structure can enhance the
functions of abovementioned.
Fig 4.5 shows that the wavelength of polycrystalline solar cell working range is
between 350 nm to 1200 nm [51]. Besides the transmission issues, the reflection of the
front surface of PV panel should be low as well. A low iron glass is most usually used
in the PV industry because it is of low cost, strong, stable, highly transparent,
impervious to water and gases and the front contact glass also has
36
Figure 4.5 The working wavelength of different type of solar cells
self-cleaning properties after raining. The specification of the Neste polycrystalline
silicon solar panel used in this experiment is shown in the Appendix A.
4.2.2 Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT)
A maximum power point tracker is utilised to maximize the power output of PV
module and it is also a high efficiency DC to DC converter. Using a conventional
charge controller to charge a discharged battery, it connects the PV modules to the
battery directly, forcing the PV module to work at the battery voltage. Generally
speaking, this voltage is always not the ideal voltage for the maximum power output of
PV module. However, the Maximum Power Point tracker (MPPT) is not simply the
bridge between the module and battery.
The MPPT controller is able to calculate the voltage at which modules can
37
produce the maximum power output and the working voltage of PV module is at
maximum power output voltage rather than battery voltage. If the whole system wiring
is assumed to be 100% efficient, the battery charge current would be VMODULE /VBATTERY
x IMODULE. The current which stored to the battery with using the MPPT controller rather
than conventional converter will increase significantly. Fig 4.6, shows that there is
always a single operating point which will produce the maximum power output of the
PV cell. This point is called the maximum power point.
Figure 4.6 IV Curve and the maximum power point
The maximum power point tracker is used to seek this point in order to maximize
the power output of the panels under the different irradiation. The power from the solar
panel passes through the Maximum Power Tracker (MPPT), which modulates to the
best level that the module can produce and converts it to get maximum current from
the deep cycle battery. Fig 4.7 indicates the MPPT being used in this experiment.
38
Figure 4.7 MPPT Solar Charger Controller
4.2.3 Battery Bank
Deep cycle gel batteries are very common in PV systems. It is designed to
produce a consistent voltage when the battery discharges. Fig 4.8 shows the battery
that was used in the experiment. During the discharging, the deep cycle battery can
discharge down to around 20% of its charge capacity without deteriorating its
performance. However, this kind of discharging cannot be applied to other types of
batteries which are not designed for “deep cycle discharge”. As it will deteriorate the
performance of the battery and also reduce the lifespan of the battery. In the
experiment, 4 deep cycle gel batteries are connected in both series and parallel
arrangements. Two 36 W solar lamp and a 24 W blower are utilised to discharge the
battery to ensure that the battery is not fully charged. This is because once the batteries
are fully charged, PV modules cannot properly produce the current from irradiation.
39
Therefore, battery voltage must always be monitored in the experiment. Solar Lamps
are used to discharge the deep cycle gel batteries during the night. The specification of
deep cycle gel battery is shown in Appendix A.
Figure 4.8 Deep Cycle Gel Battery
4.2.4 Active Cooling Device-DC Blower and AC Blower
In this experiment, a direct current (DC) blower and an alternating current (AC)
blower are used to cool the PV modules. The power of the DC blower is supplied by
the battery bank so that the rating of blower may be matched with the battery and PV
modules. Besides, the size, weight and pressure drop must also be taken into account
in choosing type of blower. A Sanyo Denki fan (Fig 4.9) which met the criteria is
utilized in this experiment. The flow rate of this blower is 8.2m3/min, the relevant
information is presented in Appendix A.
40
Figure 4.9 DC Blower
Figure 4.10 AC Blower
In order to investigate the effect of different flow rates of air passing through the duct,
a variable speed AC fan (Fig 4.10) is needed in this experiment. The flow rate of this
fan is between 2.09m3/min and 7.11 m3/min.
41
4.2.5 Solar Lamp
A solar lamp is used to discharge the battery during the night. Basically, the
lamps are used in street and pedestrian lighting and this type of lamp is known as
Energy Saving Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL), 4 pin, Single U with lamp wattage
of 36 W and rated light output of 2900 ± 5% lumens from Trilux-Lenze. A water tight
canopy made of injection molded plastic is used to enclose the lamp to ensure that
water will not permeate into the light. The ballast is only customized with 24 V lamp
bulbs. The relevant information of solar lamp is attached in the Appendix A.
Figure 4.11 Solar lamp
4.3 Experimental Measurements
4.3.1 Data Logger and 20 channels multiplexer
A Hewlett-Packard data logger was used to record the readings at 1 minute
interval. There are 20 channels for each multiplexer. In this experiment, first 15
42
channels are used to measure the temperature of PV modules, inlet temperature, outlet
temperature and ambient temperature. The other 5 channels are used to capture the
data in DC voltage mode. There are PV voltage, shunt resistor voltage, Battery voltage,
Blower voltage and the Pyranometer voltage. Fig 4.12 and 4.13 are the data logger and
multiplexer which being used in the experiment.
Figure 4.12 Hewlett-Packard data logger
Figure 4.13 20-channel relay multiplexer
4.3.2 Pyranometer
Global radiation was measured with an Eppley pyranometer (Fig 4.14) (measures
global radiation). This pyranometer is a World Meteorological Organization First Class
Radiometer and it is designed for the measurement of sun and sky radiation. The
43
hemispheres of the pyranometer are made of clear WG295 glass. Hence, this
instrument can measure the radiation in the spectral range 285 to 2800 nm. The
response time of this instrument is 1s, therefore, the 1 minute interval which is used in
our experiment is perfectly fine to get a stable value from the pyranometer. The
instrument measures solar intensity in the range 0 to 2800 Watt/m2.
Figure 4.14 Eppley pyranometer
4.3.3 T-type Thermocouple
4.3.3.1 Ambient Temperature
Figure 4.15 T-type Thermocouple
44
Ambient temperature was measured using a T-type thermocouple. T-type
thermocouples are suitable for measurements in the range at -200 to 350 °C. T-type
thermocouples (Fig 4.16) comprise 2 wires, copper and costantan (copper-nickel alloy).
A plastic connector (Fig 4.16) was needed in measuring the ambient temperature.
Figure 4.16 T type thermocouple
miniature connector
Figure 4.17 Location which put the thermo probe
The temperature probe was mounted beneath the duct (as shown on Fig 4.17),
which is shaded from direct sunlight and rain but allows the circulation of air. A master
thermometer was used to calibrate the thermometers in this experiment and the
temperature range is 20 to 80 °C. The tolerance of T-type thermocouple is 0.5°C. The
calibration curves are attached in Appendix C.
45
4.3.3.2 Temperature difference across the PV Panel
To measure the temperature of the PV module, T type thermocouples were
attached on the front and back of modules. There are 12 pieces of T-type
thermocouples attached to the panels. The locations of the thermocouples are shown in
Fig 4.18.
Figure 4.18 The arrangement of T-type thermocouple
Before doing the calibration of thermocouples, the constantan and copper wire of
the T-type thermocouples need to be spot welded. The two wires then have a common
joint, called the bead. During measurements, the bead must be well attached to the
surface for more accurate temperature readings.
46
4.3.3.3 Inlet and Outlet air temperature
Inlet and outlet temperature are used to calculate the thermal efficiency of the
system. The inlet and outlet temperature were measured with the T-type thermocouple
mounted in a probe inserted to the flexible hose.
Figure 4.19 Inlet thermo probe
Figure 4.20 Outlet thermo probe
4.3.4 Anemometer
The wind speed was measured using an anemometer manufacture by Geneq Inc.
This equipment was used to measure the wind speed for hourly during the experiment.
A picture of the anemometer is given in Fig 4.21
47
Figure 4.21 Anemometer
The volumetric flow of the system was also measured using an anemometer. As the
cross section area of the flexible hose is fixed, in measuring the air flow speed, the
flow rate can be obtained through the equation-Flow rate=air speed × cross section
area.
4.3.5 Shunt Resistor
To measure the current of the PV modules, a shunt resistor (Fig 4.22) with 0.006
ohm was used in the experiment. As the current produced by the PV modules already
exceeds the working range of data logger, a shunt resistor was placed in series with the
modules. The voltage across the shunt resistor was recorded by the datalogger and the
current output of panels can be calculated by using the Ohm’s law shown in Eq (4.1):
IPV=VSH ÷ RSH
(4.1)
48
Figure 4.22 Voltage of the PV panel can be measured directly by connecting to
datalogger.
The electric circuit diagram of this experiment is presented in the Appendix A.
4.4 Experimental Procedures
The performance of PVT system was monitored from Jun 2009 to November 2009.
The following is the entire experiment procedure:
(1) Switch on the mains in Thermal Process Lab 2 and to supply the power to Data
logger and AC Blower.
(2) Place the data logger inside the steel case and put the Pyranometer on the same
level with the PV modules.
(3) Set the channels of data logger into temperature and DC voltage and also set the
interval of time to capture the data.
(4) Set the speed of the blower to the flow rate which wants to be investigated.
(5) Check that the gaskets of the system are well pasted to ensure that the leakage is
very minor during the experiment.
49
(6) Check that all the thermocouples and the thermal probes are well attached.
(7) Switch on the mains of the MPPT controller
(8) Press the scan button on the data logger to start logging the data.
50
CHAPTER 5
MATHEMATICAL FORMULATIONS
5.1 Description of the numerical simulation model
The analytical model of hybrid PV/T panel is based on the work of Raghuraman
and Hendrie [52]. This simulation can be simply described as the heat transfer of
photovoltaic modules under the solar irradiation. The cooling mechanism is utilised to
reduce the temperature of the PV modules. The front glass surfaces of the photovoltaic
modules are exposed to the surroundings and therefore radiation and convection need
to be considered in the heat transfer analysis of the module. There are several layers of
material in the PV panel (Fig 4.4). The Fourier conduction law can be implemented in
analyzing the conduction heat transfer in between these layers. The back of
photovoltaic panels is attached to the cooling duct. For that reason, forced convection
is the main mechanism of heat transfer at the back of modules. This is a transient
simulation and the solar irradiation and ambient temperature will be varied from time
to time. The solar irradiation and ambient temperature is based on the experimental
data obtained on 23 September 2009.
51
5.2 Assumptions
In order to simplify the simulation model, the following assumptions are made:
(1) Edge and back heat losses of the collector are neglected in the simulation studies.
(2) The heat transfer in the collector is envisioned as two dimensional heat transfer
process.
(3) Only the single cell is simulated during the process.
(4) Inter-reflections of insolation between the various surfaces are neglected.
(5) The leakage of air from the collector is negligible.
(6) The capacity effect of glass cover and enclosed air is also neglected.
(7) An average wind speed was used to estimate the convection coefficient of
collector.
(8) The data of solar irradiation and ambient temperature from the experiment were
used as the input of numerical simulation.
(9) The ohmic losses in the solar cell are negligible.
5.3 The analysis of heat transfer on Photovoltaic Cell
The net energy absorbed by the cell is:
Ec = pα cτ g G (t )
(5.1)
52
where G (t) is the solar irradiation incident on the glass cover, p is the cell packing
factor which defined as the ratio of area of solar cell to the area of blank absorber, αc is
cell absorptivity to sunlight, τg is the fraction transmitted through the front glass and
low iron glass was used in the experiment, τg =.0.95.
For the wavelength less than 1.1μm the absorption length is less than the
thickness of typical cell (ie: 260μm), hence the absorption process is completed before
the radiation reaches the rear surface. Absorptivity of the silicon solar cell can be
computed through Fig 5.1
αc=0.926×0.8+0.073×0.2
=0.7554
Figure 5.1 Diagram of principal reflections, absorptions and transmissions for a silicon
PV cell imbedded in EVA [53]
53
The PV module used in this experiment is of gridded metal type; EVA absorptivity,
0.073
Polycrystalline silicon PV modules are used in the experiment. According to the
Cox and Raghuraman [53] report, the insolation of wavelength above 1.1μm is
transmitted through the silicon cell without any absorption and this is absorbed by the
backsheet of PV module. The insolation absorbed by the solar cell can be converted
into electrical and thermal energy and the equations are shown respectively below,
Ece = η e pτ g I (t )
(5.2)
Ect = (1 − ηe / α c ) pα cτ g G (t )
(5.3)
where Ece is electrical energy produced by photovoltaic cell, Ect is thermal energy
released by photovoltaic cell, ηe is the cell electrical efficiency and this parameter is
functioned of the cell temperature.
ηe = ηo [1 − β (Tc − To )]
ηo =
(5.4)
Vm p I m p
(5.5)
GA
54
where ηo is the nominal electrical efficiency under standard condition, A is the area of
the PV module, G is the irradiation and it is defined as 1000W/m2 for standard
condition, Vmp is the PV voltage at maximum power point and Imp is the PV current at
maximum power point. All the relevant data can be obtained from the specification of
PV module which put in the Appendix., To is the temperature of standard condition,
25℃, Tc is the cell temperature, β is the temperature coefficient of silicon cell,
β=0.0045℃-1.
ET = τ g (1 − P )α T I (t )
(5.6)
where ET is the rate of solar energy absorbed by Tedlar (Backsheet) after transmission
from EVA, αT is the absorptivity of the Tedlar.
Energy conservation laws are applied into the components of the collector and the
equations are shown below:
(1 − η e / α c ) pα cτ g G (t ) + τ gα T G (t )(1 − p ) = Eloss + qc
(5.7)
Eloss is the energy losses from the front glass to environment through the forced and
free convection and radiation.
55
E = hg [Tg − Ta (t )] + ε gσ Tg 4 − α gσ [Ta (t ) − 6]4
(5.8)
where Tg is the glass temperature, Ta is the ambient temperature, εg is the emittance of
the glass, αg is the absorptivity of glass and (Ta-6℃) is assumed to be the sky
temperature [54]. The solar collector was exposed to the ambient so that the heat loss
is transferred by the top glass cover to the surrounding due to the combination of free
and forced convection. Free convection is due to the air near the collector surface,
which gets heated up producing the natural buoyancy force on the air. Forced
convection is caused by the wind. Therefore, hg is the convective heat transfer
coefficient of the glass to the environment and an empirical correlation from Stultz and
Wen [55] report is used,
hg = 1.247([Tg − Ta (t )]cos θ )1/ 3 + 2.658V
(5.9)
where hg is the convection coefficient of surface of collector, θ is the module
inclination to the horizontal, V is the wind speed and assumed to be a constant speed,
V=0.4m/s.
56
qc = hc (Tb − Tave )
(5.10)
The energy balance of the air flow in the duct:
•
m cp
dTair
dx = qc
dx
(5.11)
Where qc is the heat which convected away by the air flow in the channel, Tb is the
temperature of backsheet and hc is the convection coefficient of air in the channel. Tave
is the average temperature of inlet and outlet flow.
To investigate the heat transfer of an internal flow within a duct, the flow
condition (laminar or turbulent) is important to know and this information can be
obtained through the equation below:
Re D =
um D
(5.12)
ν
where um is the mean fluid velocity over the duct cross section, v is the kinematics
viscosity of fluid and D is the hydraulic diameter. In a fully developed flow, to achieve
a turbulence, the Reynolds number must somewhere between ReD=2300 and 10000.
The smoothness of wall surface is also a factor to the affect the Reynolds number. For
the hydraulic diameter, it is defined as
57
Dh =
4 Axs
P
(5.13)
where Axs and P are the flow cross-sectional area and wetted perimeter.
The Nusselt number Nu is a dimensionless measure to determine the convective heat
transfer coefficient from the inside surface of a duct. It can be physically interpreted as
the dimensionless temperature gradient at surface.
NuD =
hc D
k
(5.14)
where hc is the heat transfer coefficient for convection, k is the thermal conductivity of
the fluid, and D is the hydraulic diameter of duct. For fully developed turbulent flow,
the Nusselt number is much more complicated to determine. Therefore, empirical
correlation is always utilised to calculate the Nusselt number.
A correlation, which is widely utilised and is attributed to Petukhov [56], is valid for
0.5<Pr<2000 and 104<ReD<5×106
NuD =
( f / 8) Re D Pr
1.07 + 12.7( f / 8)1/ 2 (Pr 2 / 3 − 1)
(5.15)
where Pr is the Prandtl number, which can be physically described as the ratio of the
58
momentum and thermal diffusivities, and shown below:
Pr =
Cpμ
(5.16)
k
Where cp is specific heat capacity under constant pressure, μ is dynamic viscosity. f is
the friction factor, which can be obtained through checking the Moody diagram or
equation below:
f = (0.790 ln Re D − 1.64)−2
(5.17)
This correlation is valid for 3000≦ReD≦5×106
Figure 5.2 Friction Factor under different Air Flow velocity
59
Friction factor is a function of Reynolds number, as expressed in Eq (5.17) and
the variation of friction factor with air flow velocity is shown in Fig 5.2. It shows that
the friction factor is observed to decrease with increasing air flow rate. There is a
significant drop in the range of 0 to 2 m/s.
From Equations 5.10 and 5.11, hc, convection coefficient of air flow in the duct can be
written as follows:
hc =
k ( f / 8)U m Pr
ν [1.07 + 12.7( f / 8)1/ 2 (Pr 2 / 3 − 1)]
(5.18)
Figure 5.3 Heat Transfer Coefficient under different Air flow velocity
The heat transfer coefficient in the cooling duct which is a function of the air flow
velocity is plotted in Fig 5.3. With increasing air flow velocity, the heat transfer in the
cooling duct will be enhanced as well as can be observed in Fig 5.3.
60
The internal heat transfer mechanism of solar cell is dominated by Fourier conduction
law. The equation can be written as following equation:
ρC p
∂T
= ∇(k ∇T )
∂t
(5.19)
A two dimensional simulation is discussed in this study and therefore the above
equation can be transformed to the following equation:
∂ 2T ∂ 2T 1 ∂T
+
=
∂ 2 x ∂ 2 y α ∂t
(5.20)
Where α is the thermal diffusivity, α=k/ρcp, T is the temperature. The thermal
properties (thermal conductivity, density and specific heat capacity) of the layers inside
the photovoltaic module are tabulated in table 5.1
61
Table 5.1 Thermal Properties of the Material
Material
Thermal
Conductivity
(W/m-ºK)
Specific
Heat
Capacity
(KJ/kg K)
Density
(Kg/m3)
Thermal
Diffusivity
Tedlar
(Polyvinyl
Fluoride)
0.14
1010
1450
9.56E-08
EVA
(Ethylene-vinyl
acetate)
0.3836
2220
1080
1.6E-07
PET
(Polyethylene
terephthalate)
0.24
1000
1455
1.65E-07
Silicon
(Polycrystalline)
148
712
2330
8.92E-05
PV Glass
1
858
2500
4.66E-07
The thermal efficiency can be computed with the following equation:
•
ηth =
m c p ∫ (To − Ti )dt
(5.21)
Ac ∫ G (t )dt
where m is the mass flow rate, cp is the specific heat capacity, To is the outlet
temperature of air flow, Ti is the inlet temperature of the air flow, Ac is the area of
collector.
The electrical efficiency of the PV module can be described as following equation:
62
ηe =
∫ VIdt
A∫ G (t ) dt
(5.22)
The total efficiency of the hybrid PV/T system is:
•
ηtotal = ηth + ηe ==
m c p ∫ (To − Ti )dt + ∫ VIdt
Ac ∫ G (t )dt
(5.23)
The thermal and electrical efficiencies are presented in Eqs (5.22) and (5.23). It
can be seen that the solar irradiation is a function of time and those parameters which
are affected by the solar irradiation, such as inlet and outlet temperatures, PV voltage
and PV current, are also functions of time. That is the reason to integrate the equation
with time.
5.4 Meteorological data of Simulation
In order to compare the temperature profile of simulation and experiment, the
same meteorological condition must be applied to the simulation programming. A
second order polynomial equation was used to curve the real meteorological data on 23
September 2009. The solar irradiation of the simulation is a function of time and the
equation is shown below:
63
G (t ) = −0.003t 2 + 0.6746t + 580.47
(5.24)
where t is the time and the unit of t is minute.
1100
1000
Irradiation (W/m2)
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
2
200
y = -0.0003x + 0.6746x + 580.47
2
7
7
:1
16
:5
15
:2
7
2
7
2
15
:0
15
:3
14
:1
14
:4
2
13
:2
13
2
7
2
7
2
2
7
:5
12
:3
12
:0
12
:4
11
:1
11
:4
10
:1
10
9:
47
100
Time
Figure 5.4 Solar irradiation of the simulation
The curve seems to perfectly fit the real data in the morning, and the deviation of the
curve started increasing after 1 pm. Another parameter which is used to approach the
real condition for the simulation is ambient temperature. Fig 5.5 is the curve of the
ambient temperature at that day. A six order polynomial equation was used to represent
the meteorological data on 23 September 2009 and the equation is:
64
y = -8E-19x6 + 7E-15x5 - 2E-11x4 + 4E-08x3 - 3E-05x2 + 0.0109x + 31.271
Ambient Temperature (C)
35
34
33
32
31
:1
7
2
:5
15
16
7
:2
7
2
2
15
:0
15
:3
14
7
:4
:1
14
2
13
:2
2
7
2
7
2
2
7
13
:5
12
:3
12
:0
12
:4
11
:1
11
:4
10
:1
10
9:
47
30
Time
Figure 5.5 Ambient temperature of simulation
Ta(t) =-1×10-14t6 +2×10-11t5 - 1×10-8t4 +5×10-06t3 - 0.0009t2 +0.0561t +31.297
(5.25)
The ambient temperature of the simulation can only averagely curve the
meteorological condition on 23 September 2009. The fluctuation of the ambient
temperature could be attributed to the wind blowing unsteadily. However, the
polynomial equation is still acceptable to represent the ambient temperature in the
numerical simulation.
65
CHAPTER 6
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results of the experiments and simulation are discussed in this chapter. Good
agreement between the experiment and simulation results is found in this study. The
electrical and thermal performances of the system are also clearly presented in this
chapter and the comparison of different meteorological conditions will be provided in
order to investigate the function of the PV/T system. In this study, thermal and
electrical performance will be discussed respectively. In thermal aspect, those
parameters like temperature of Photovoltaic module at different location, inlet and
outlet temperature of air flow, ambient temperature, solar intensity, thermal efficiency,
thermal gain and flow rate are investigated thoroughly in order to figure out the
potential of combining the Photovoltaic module and thermal collector. Apart from
these, battery voltage, Photovoltaic voltage, Photovoltaic current, external load and
electrical efficiency are also needed to be elaborated. This is because that these
parameters can adequately indicate whether the cooling mechanism could improve the
electrical performance of system.
66
50
49
48
47
46
45
44
43
42
41
40
1100
2
Irradiation (W/m )
1000
900
800
700
Irradiation
600
Average Temperature
500
400
9:47
10:30
11:30
12:30
13:30
14:30
15:31
TEmperature (C)
6.1 Thermal Performance
16:21
Time
Figure 6.1 Irradiation and Average Panel Temperature for the whole day under cooling
condition (23 September 2009)
The cases with and without cooling are presented in Figs 6.1 and 6.2. The
maximum solar intensity of both days occurs at around 1:30 pm. The maximum solar
intensities on 23rd September and 28th September were about 1050W/m2 and
1200W/m2, respectively. For the case with cooling, the module temperature was
maintained at 48℃ at maximum solar intensity. However, from Fig 6.2, it can be seen
that the maximum temperature attained by module is 63℃. The temperature profile of
the PV module almost corresponds to the solar intensity and this may be observed
from the Figs 6.1 and 6.2 These two figures provide vital information in illustrating
that how effective of using the cooling mechanism to reduce the temperature of PV
module. These two figures also show that the maximum solar intensity always occurs
67
at solar noon. The local solar noon of Singapore is around 1:00 to 1:30 pm.
1200
68
Average Temperature
63
2
Irradiation (W/m )
1000
800
58
600
53
400
48
200
43
0
AverageTemperature (C)
Irradiation
38
9:46 10:14 10:41 11:50 12:02 12:49 12:55 13:18 13:43 14:25 15:15 15:48 16:42 16:57
Time
Figure 6.2 Irradiation and Average Panel Temperature for the whole day without
cooling condition (28 September 2009)
The Photovoltaic module temperature is linearly proportionate to the irradiation
and it is displayed in the Fig 6.3. Under the cooling mechanism, for every 100W/m2
increment of solar irradiation, the temperature of module increases 1.39℃. However, if
the PV module is not associated with the cooling mechanism, the increase of
temperature will be 1.8℃ for every 100W/m2.
68
Without Cooling
Module Temperature (C)
65
With Cooling
60
y = 0.018x + 41.752
55
50
45
y = 0.0139x + 34.424
40
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
Irradiation (W/m2)
Figure 6.3 Module Temperature as a function of solar irradiation
This also shows that the increase of temperature of PV module without the
cooling mechanism is higher than with the cooling mechanism under the same solar
irradiation. The variation of temperature between the cooling and non-cooling cases
can can be as high as 10℃. The high temperature will seriously affect the electrical
performance of the system and also degrade the Photovoltaic module.
54
T1
T2
Temperature (C)
52
T3
50
T4
48
46
44
42
40
9:47
10:30
11:30
12:30
Time
13:30
14:30
15:30
16:30
Figure 6.4 Temperature profile at centre the duct PV module.
69
Temperature (C)
T7
48
47
46
45
44
43
42
41
40
39
38
T11
T12
T13
9:47 10:00 10:30 10:59 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 13:52 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30
Time
Figure 6.5 Temperature profile at side of duct.
Figs 6.4 and 6.5 provided the temperature profile of back of PV module. The
shapes of the curves are shown consistently to each other. It was observed that the
temperature of the module has shown a variation in the sequence of the location of
thermocouple. The temperature of PV module which near to the inlet of air flow will
always be lower than the temperature of panel which near to the outlet. This could be
attributed to the air flow keep absorbing the heat from the panel and the temperature
difference (Tbacksheet-Tair) between the surface and air flow will become smaller.
Therefore, the sequence of temperature of PV module will be T4>T3>T2>T1.
From Figs 6.4 Fig 6.5, it is may be observed that the temperature of the panel in
the centre channel is higher than that of the side channel. This phenomenon can be
described as non-uniform flow distribution. The flow distribution simulation results are
displayed in Figs 6.6 and 6.7. These figures indicate that the non-uniform flow caused
70
the temperature of PV module in the centre channel increases due to the low flow rate
passing through.
Figure 6.6 Top view of velocity contour of manifold design
Figure 6.7 Cross section view of velocity contour of manifold design
71
The simulation results also showed that the pressure drop in this design is not very
significant and therefore the energy consumption which utilised to drive the blower
can be reduced. Figure 6.8 presents the pressure contour of the manifold design
Figure 6.8 Top view of the pressure contour of manifold design
The scale of Fig 6.8 shows that the pressure drop of this manifold design is less
than 55.3 Pascal. This information is useful for the proper selection of the blower.
Although the flow rate at centre channel is slightly different from the side channel, the
manifold duct design can still provide the Photovoltaic module with a well distributed
flow field.
72
108(C)
Temperature (C)
54
109(C)
52
110(C)
50
114(C)
48
46
44
42
40
38
9:47 10:00 10:30 10:59 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 13:52 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30
Time
Figure 6.9 Temperature profile of the front glass of module
Temperature profiles of the front glass of PV module are presented in Fig 6.9.
From the comparison of Figs 6.5 and 6.9, it is clearly observed that the temperature of
front glass is higher than at the back. This indicates that the convection heat transfer of
front glass is not constant at the back of the PV module. The convection heat transfer
of the front glass is dominated by the forced and free convection. Free convection in
this experiment is insignificant as the buoyancy force involved is very small; therefore,
the heat transfer is also insignificant. However, forced convection at the front glass is
dominated by the wind blowing over the PV module.
Hence, it is not comparable to the forced convection at the back of PV module. In
addition, the wind blow at the front glass of module is very unstable. Thus, the
temperature of the front glass of PV module is higher than the back of PV module.
However, the trend of the temperature profile can still be observed and it still
73
corresponds to the solar intensity even though under the disturbance of unstable heat
transfer mechanism.
44
Inlet (C)
Temperature (C)
42
Outlet (C)
40
38
36
34
32
30
9:47
10:30
11:30
12:30
13:30
14:30
15:30
16:30
Time
Figure 6.10 Temperature profile of inlet and outlet flow
Inlet and outlet temperature of the air flow are also investigated in this study, as
the heat gain and thermal efficiency can be computed by using the difference of inlet
and outlet flow temperature. Fig 6.10 indicates the temperature profile of inlet and
outlet flow over the entire day. The maximum temperature difference between the inlet
and outlet flow can be 8℃ and it happened at 1:30 pm. The minimum temperature
difference between the inlet and outlet flow occurred at 3:30 pm and just has 4℃ in
difference. This might be the reason that the solar irradiation is low at that moment and
the ambient temperature of the surrounding is still high and therefore the temperature
difference of inlet and outlet is limited by those reasons.
74
Temperature Difference (C)
Mass Flow= 0.0932 kg/s
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Mass Flow= 0.0389kg/s
200
300
400
500
600
700
2
800
900
1000
Irradiation (W/m )
Figure 6.11 Variation of temperature difference (To-Ti) with incident radiation for flow
rate 0.0389 kg/s and 0.0932 kg/s
Temperature differences of the inlet and outlet flow are presented in Fig 6.11. The
temperature difference of inlet and outlet flow will increase 0.55 ℃ for every
increment of 100W/m2 of solar irradiation when the flow rate is 0.0932kg/s. However,
when the flow rate at 0.0389 kg/s, the temperature difference of inlet and outlet flow
will increase 0.89℃ for every increment of 100W/m2 of solar irradiation. This can be
explained that the increase of flow rate will cause the temperature difference of inlet
and outlet flow decreases. As the flow rate is inversely proportional to the temperature
difference at a given heat gain.
75
0.600
Mass Flow=0.0932kg/s
Mass Flow=0.0389kg/s
0.550
Thermal Efficiency
Mass Flow=0.1379kg/s
0.500
0.450
0.400
0.350
-0.006
-0.004
-0.002
0.000
0.002
0.004
0.006
0.008
0.010
0.012
(Ti-Ta)/G(K.m2W-1)
Figure 6.12 Thermal efficiency as a function of (Ti-Ta)/G
The thermal efficiencies of the experiments are presented in Fig 6.12. The thermal
efficiency of the PV/T air collector at different mass flow rate are tabulated in table 6.1
Table 6.1 Thermal efficiency for different flow rate
Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)
Equation
0.0389
ηth = 0.4095-3.7491ΔT/G
0.0932
ηth = 0.5104-4.7574ΔT/G
0.1379
ηth = 0.5342-5.4084ΔT/G
The thermal efficiencies of the experiments are between 40 to 55%. However, Tonui
and Tripanagnostopoulos [57] reported, a PVT air collector with fins can provide the
thermal efficiency at 0.30-6.14ΔT/G. The flow rate which used at that experiment was
very low compared to current study. Therefore, the thermal efficiency of that study can
only attain to 30%. From the result of theoretical models, high values of air flow rate,
76
long PV/T system and small air duct depth, thermal efficiency can up to 55% [48]. For
the model of a finned double-pass photovoltaic-thermal solar air heater, Othman et al
[58] reported, the thermal efficiency of the system can attain to around 45% and 70%
at flow rate 0.027kg/s and 0.181kg/s, respectively. This may be attributed to the air
having sufficient time for good a heat transfer with the PV module when the air moves
from the top of the cell to the bottom. Othman et al [59] performed an experimental
analysis on PVT collector of double pass with flat plat, and achieved the thermal
efficiency of about 58% at 0.1kg/s of air flow rate.
Thermal Efficiency (%)
60
50
40
30
Irradiation=1000W/m2
Irradiation=900W/m2
20
10
0
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
Flow rate (kg/s)
Figure 6.13 Influence of flow rate on thermal efficiency
Fig 6.13 showed that, by varying the flow rate, it can be seen that the thermal
efficiency will come to be a constant after the flow rate at around 0.05 kg/s. Sopian et
al [45] showed that the thermal efficiency will come to a constant after the flow rate at
77
0.042 kg/s. Hegazy [35] reported that the daily thermal efficiency of the system will
reach an asymptotic value when the flow rate reaches to 0.045 kg/s., Sopian et al [36]
found that for a solar drying system the thermal efficiency will be maintained at 58%
with the flow rate at 0.05 kg/s. The thermal efficiency of the PVT air system seems to
be maintained at fixed level when the flow rate at 0.04 to 0.05 kg/s, regardless of the
configuration of collector.
Electrical Efficiency (%)
6.2 Electrical Performance
14
With Cooling
13
Without Cooling
12
11
10
9
8
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
Temperature (C)
Figure 6.14 Electrical efficiency as a function of PV temperature at irradiation at
1000W/m2
78
14
Electrical Efficiency (%)
With Cooling
Without Cooling
13
12
11
10
9
8
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
Temperature (C)
Figure 6.15 Electrical efficiency as a function of PV temperature at irradiation at
250W/m2
In Figs 6.14 and 6.15 show that the variation of electrical efficiency of the PV
module with the operating temperature. It can be seen that the electrical efficiency of
the PV module is significantly affected by the operating temperature under high
irradiation conditions. However, under low irradiation conditions as shown in Fig 6.15,
cooling mechanism is insignificant in affecting the electrical efficiency of PV module.
It is probably due to the low operating temperature of PV module under low irradiation.
Hence, the cooling mechanism cannot significantly affect the electrical efficiency of
PV module. High irradiation will incur high operating temperature of PV module, this
has been shown at Fig 6.14. Without applying the cooling mechanism on the PV
module, the temperature of PV module can attain to around 68℃ and electrical
efficiency of the PV module is around 8.6%. If the PV module cooled by air, the
79
electrical efficiency of PV module can be boosted to around 13% and the operating
temperature is only 36℃. From the result of experiment, it strongly proved that the
cooling mechanism can greatly help increase the electrical efficiency of PV module by
reducing the operating temperature. Furthermore, the high operating temperature can
also reduce the lifespan of PV module by degrading the material of module. Zondag
and Helden [60] showed that the temperature of PV module can reach 120℃ when the
flow fails in the collector. The thermal cycling tests also showed that the EVA inside
the PV module may have a risk in delamination when operating temperatures of PV
module over 135℃. Fig 6.14 also provides an indicative trend in the relation of
electrical efficiency and operating temperature. A linear equation obtained from the Fig
6.14:
η el = 0.1577 − 0.0009Tpanel
(6.1)
The theoretical efficiency of PV module can be obtained from the Eq 5-4
From the theoretical deduction, the electrical efficiency of the module can be written
as the equation below:
ηel = 0.1664 − 0.0007Tpanel
(6.2)
80
Electrical Efficiency (%)
15
Experimental Result
Theoretical Result
y = -0.07x + 16.64
14
13
12
11
y = -0.09x + 15.77
10
9
8
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
Temperature (C)
Figure 6.16 Comparison between theoretical and experimental results
Based on experimental data as shown in Fig 6.16, showed that the theoretical
electrical efficiency is about 1 to 2% higher than experimental electrical efficiency.
This discrepancy can be attributed to the connection of module to module will incur
the electrical efficiency drop. Tonui et al [57] reported that the linear correlation
between the electrical efficiency and the module temperature which obtained from the
experiment is:
ηel = 0.147 − 0.0008Tpanel
(6.3)
Tripanagnostopoulos [49] also presented another experimental result on correlation
between the electrical efficiency and module temperature and the linear equation is
given by:
81
η el = 0.166 − 0.0001Tpanel
From
the
(6.4)
electrical
efficiency
correlation
of
the
work
of
Tonui,
Tripanagnostopoulos and author, it can be concluded that the increase of temperature
of PV module can reduce the electrical efficiency. However, the variation of the
constant term of each equation may be attributed to the different model of PV module
and therefore the performances of the PV module are also different to each other. The
comparison of these three models also showed that under the same increment of
temperature the reduction of electrical efficiency of Tripanagnostopoulos’s experiment
is lower than other two cases.
13.00
Electrical Efficiency (%)
12.50
12.00
11.50
Irradiation=1000W/m2
11.00
Irradiation=900W/m2
10.50
Irradiation=500W/m2
10.00
Irradiation=700W/m2
9.50
9.00
8.50
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
0.14
0.16
Flow Rate (kg/s)
Figure 6.17 Influence of flow rate on electrical efficiency
82
0.18
This shows that the reduction of electrical efficiency of Tripanagnostopoulos’s
experiment will be lower than those for two other experiments under the same
irradiation. By varying the flow rate, the electrical efficiencies of PV module are also
investigated in this study. The effect of varying the flow rate on PV electrical
efficiency is presented in Fig 6.17 and the trend is similar to shown in Fig 6.13 The
electrical efficiency of the PV module increases with the flow rate until the flow rate
reaches 0.05 to 0.055 kg/s.
The electrical efficiency of PV module will be maintained at a fixed value after
the flow rate at 0.055 kg/s. This could be explained associated with the thermal
efficiency of collector. When the flow rate increases to around 0.05 kg/s, the thermal
efficiency of the collector will also be maintained at certain level. In other words, the
heat which extracted by the flow has come to a saturated level and it can no longer be
increased by increasing the flow rate. Thus, the electrical efficiency of PV module will
also be maintained at a fixed value after the flow rate at 0.05 kg/s. Fig 6.17 also
showed that the electrical efficiency of PV module at low irradiation will be higher
than the high irradiation. It is highly likely that the operating temperature of PV
module is much higher in the condition of high irradiation.
Hegazy [35] reported that four types of PV/T air system were investigated in a
comparative study and the electrical efficiency of those systems will come to
83
maximum value at the flow rate at 0.045kg/s and the electrical efficiency will also
keep constant after this flow rate. The discrepancy between the author and Hegazy’s
study could be attributed to the difference of configuration for both systems. Hegazy
utilized a double pass flow design to investigate the electrical efficiency. Therefore, the
air flow has sufficient time to contact with the module and module can be effectively
cooled. Electrical efficiency of the module will be increased due to the effective
cooling. For that reason, the flow rate of Hegazy’s experiment will be lower than
author to attain the maximum electrical efficiency in experiment.
Mass Flow Rate= 0.0389 kg/s
Electrical Efficiency (%)
13.2
Mass Flow Rate= 0.0676 kg/s
13
Mass Flow Rate =0.0783kg/s
12.8
12.6
12.4
12.2
12
11.8
11.6
11.4
11.2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Temperature Difference (C)
Figure 6.18 Influence of temperature difference (To-Ti) on electrical efficiency for
different flow rate
The electrical efficiency of PV module decreases when the temperature difference
of the inlet and outlet flow increases. Fig 6.18 shows that the electrical efficiency of
84
the PV module significantly decreases with the increase of temperature difference over
the inlet and outlet flow. This may be explained by the high temperature gradient,
which causes the occurrence of hot spots in the PV module. Therefore, the overall
electrical efficiency was decreased due to the local high temperature spot emerges in
the PV module. The inlet and outlet flow temperature difference should be controlled
in an optimum range to ensure that the electrical efficiency of the PV module can still
be maintained at desired output value.
Temperature of the PV module also affects the PV electrical power output and the
results are also shown in Fig 6.19. Under the solar irradiation at 1000W/m2, there is a
decrease of 0.69% of electrical power output for every Celsius degree increase.
However, a decrease of electrical output power by 0.65%/K has been reported by
Radziemska [61]. The decrease in insolation at 800W/m2, 600W/m2 and 400W/m2 are
0.47%/K, 0.39%/K and 0.34%/K, respectively. The trend could be explained from the
derivation below:
It may be assumed that the relation between the solar irradiation and temperature
of PV module to be linear, as also observed from Fig. 6.3.
Therefore, the solar radiation will be linearly proportional to the temperature of the
module.
Let assume,
85
G = FT − C
(6.5)
where G is the solar irradiation, T is the temperature of PV module, F and C are the
coefficient. To find the relation between the PV power output and module temperature
can be started from Eq 5-4
ηe = ηo [1 − β (Tc − To )]
ηe =
Pel
AG
(6.6)
Substituting the Eqs 5-4 to 6-6, the equation becomes:
Pel = AGηo [1 − β (T − To )]
(6.7)
The details of derivation are presented in Appendix. After arranging the equation, it
can be written in the form:
Pel = ( FTo − FTo β − C ) + ( F + C β )[T − To ] − F β (T − To ) 2
Let
86
(6.8)
T ' = T − To
(6.9)
Substituting Eq (6.9) into the equation (6. 8) yields,
P = Aηo [(T '−
F + C β 2 F + C β 2 FTo − C − F β To
) +(
) +
]
2F β
2F β
Fβ
(6.10)
In order to simplify the Eq (6.10), let:
F + C β 2 FTo − C − F β To
) +
Fβ
2F β
(6.11)
F + Cβ
2F β
(6.12)
Z =(
L=
Substituting Eq (6.11) and Eq (6.12) to Eq (6.10) yields,
Pel = −[T '− L]2 + Z
(6.13)
Substituting T1 and T2 to equation 6.13
Pel1 = −[T1 '− L ]2 + Z
(6.14)
And
87
Pel 2 = −[T2 '− L]2 + Z
(6.15)
Let Eq (6.14) subtract Eq (6.15)
Pel1 − Pel 2 = −[T1 '− L]2 + Z + [T2 '− L]2 − Z
(6.16)
Percentage of Electrical power decrease over the temperature difference T1 and T2
Pel1 − Pel 2 (T2 '+ T1 '− 2 L)(T2 '− T1 ')
Pel1
Z − (T1 '− L) 2
=
T1 − T2
T1 − T2
(6.17)
Electrical output decrease over temperature increase
Pel1 − Pel 2
Pel1
(T '+ T1 '− 2 L)
=− 2
T1 − T2
Z − (T1 '− L) 2
(6.18)
Thee derivation above, it shows that when temperature T2 is much larger than T1
then the electrical output power percentage decreases significantly for every Celsius
degree. This situation could happen in high irradiation under with and without cooling
as under the high irradiation temperature of PV module can be very high without any
cooling mechanism. However, if the air is circulated at the back of PV module, the
88
temperature of PV module can be reduced. It means that under the same solar
irradiation, the temperature of PV module with and without cooling could be varied a
lot. Eq 6.18 shows good agreement with the experimental data which shown in Fig
6.19. At low solar irradiation, the temperature of T1 and T2 cannot be varied a lot and
therefore the electrical output power percentage is lower than the situation in high
solar irradiation.
Irradiation= 1000W/m2
PV Power Output (W)
250
Irradiation= 800W/m2
Irradiation= 600W/m2
200
Irradiation= 400W/m2
150
100
50
0
30
35
40
45
50
55
Temperature (C)
60
65
Irradiation
6.0
1000
PV Current
5.5
500
3.0
400
2.5
300
2.0
200
1.5
100
1.0
15:38
3.5
14:42
4.0
600
13:46
700
12:50
4.5
11:54
5.0
800
10:48
900
PV Current (A)
1100
9:47
Irradiation (W/m2)
Figure 6.19 PV electrical power output under different solar radiation
Time
Figure 6.20 Solar radiation of the entire day and the corresponded PV current due to
the solar radiation (23 September 2009)
89
PV Voltage
32
1000
Irradiation
32
2
900
32
800
32
700
32
600
31
500
31
16:20
16:02
15:44
15:26
15:08
14:50
14:32
14:14
13:56
13:38
13:20
13:02
12:44
12:26
12:08
11:50
200
11:32
31
11:14
300
10:46
31
10:23
400
10:05
31
9:47
PV Voltage (V)
1100
Irradiation (W/m )
33
Time
Figure 6.21 Solar irradiation and the PV Voltage for the entire day
(23 September 2009)
Fig 6.20 shows the relation between the irradiation and PV current output. This
figure also provides important information about the stand alone system. Stand alone
systems need to use the battery bank to store the electricity generated by the PV
module during operation. This figure shows that the PV current generated corresponds
to the solar irradiation. Fig 6.21 also shows the relation of irradiation and PV voltage.
Some minor fluctuations are seen in this figure but the overall trend of the PV voltage
is well corresponded to the irradiation. However, when the battery bank of stand-alone
PV systems are fully charged, the PV current and PV voltage of the system do not
correspond to the irradiation. Figs 6.22 and 6.23 display the results when the battery
banks are fully charged. Once the battery bank of the stand alone systems are fully
charged, the voltage of the PV module becomes constant at, around 38 V. This could be
90
because the PV current cannot flow through the external load but the electron-hole pair
39
900
38
800
37
700
36
600
35
Irradiation
500
34
PV Voltage
17:23
17:02
16:41
16:20
15:59
15:38
15:17
14:56
14:35
14:14
13:53
13:32
13:11
12:50
12:29
12:08
11:47
11:26
32
11:05
300
10:44
33
10:23
400
10:02
PV Voltage (V)
1000
9:41
2
Irradiation (W/m )
continues to generate voltage by the Photovoltaic effect.
Time
Figure 6.22 Solar radiation and the PV Voltage for the entire day (8 June 2009)
3
Irradiation
3
PV Current
800
3
2
700
2
600
2
500
PV Current (A)
2
Irradiation (W/m )
900
2
400
2
17:23
17:01
16:39
16:17
15:55
15:33
15:11
14:49
14:27
14:05
13:43
13:21
12:59
12:37
12:15
11:53
11:31
11:09
10:47
10:25
10:03
1
9:41
300
Time
Figure 6.23 Solar radiation of the entire day and the corresponded PV current due to
the solar radiation (8 June 2009)
91
Thus, the voltage in the PN junction will increase to abnormal level. Fig 6.21
indicated that the PV voltage is around 32 V when the battery banks of the stand alone
system are partially discharged. In other words, the PV current which generated by the
Photovoltaic effect can flow through the external load and the electricity can be stored
by the battery bank. Fig 6.23 provides useful information to the stand alone system, as
it can tell whether the battery bank of the system is fully charged.
26.2
26.1
26.0
25.8
25.7
25.6
25.5
Blower Voltage
25.4
Battery Voltage
25.3
16:22
16:02
15:42
15:22
15:02
14:42
14:22
14:02
13:42
13:22
13:02
12:42
12:22
12:02
11:42
11:22
10:52
10:27
10:07
25.2
9:47
Voltage (V)
25.9
Time
Figure 6.24 Battery and blower voltage of partially discharged battery bank
(23 September 2009)
92
31
30
Voltage (V)
30
29
29
Battery Voltage
28
Blower Voltage
28
27
17:11
16:53
16:35
16:17
15:59
15:41
15:23
15:05
14:47
14:29
14:11
13:53
13:35
13:17
12:59
12:41
12:23
12:05
11:47
11:29
11:11
10:53
10:35
9:59
10:17
9:41
27
Time
Figure 6.25 Battery and blower voltage of fully charged battery bank (8 June 2009)
Figs 6.24 and 6.25 are the battery and blower voltage in fully charged and
partially discharged conditions, respectively. The voltage of the blower was almost
identical to the battery voltage as the blower was hooked up to the battery directly. In
the partially discharged case, the voltage of battery will vary with the state of battery
storage. The battery voltage will keep constant all the way when it is in fully charged
condition. The battery voltage will be around 25 to 26 V when it is under the partially
discharged condition. However, if the battery bank is always hooked up with the panel
without any discharging mechanism, the battery bank may come to a saturated
condition and the battery voltage will be around 30. 5 V. Gassing problems might
occur if the battery continues to be charged after being fully charged as during the
charging process of a fully charged battery, hydrogen and oxygen are released.
Therefore, to avoid the hydrogen explosion hazard, the battery should be kept in a well
ventilated area.
93
PV Current (A)
6.00
5.50
Fully Charged Battery
5.00
Partially Discharged Battery
4.50
4.00
3.50
3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
500
550
600
650
700
750
2
800
850
900
950
1000
Irradiation (W/m )
Figure 6.26 PV current generated by module in case: (a) partially discharged battery
and (b) fully charged battery
Fig 6.26 indicates that, the current which generated by the PV module is linearly
proportional to the solar radiation when the battery bank was not at the condition of
fully charged. However, if the battery bank was under fully charged condition, the PV
current will keep constant at 1.6 A, regardless of the increase of solar irradiation. For
every 100 W/m2 of solar irradiation increment, the PV current output from the module
will increase 0.56 A. It can be seen that when the solar irradiation reaches 1000 W/m2,
the PV current output can attain to around 5.6 A. By partially discharging the battery
bank can ensure that the PV module working properly and effectively.
94
Battery Partially Discharged
14
Battery Fully Charged
Electrical Efficiency (%)
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
16:22
16:02
15:42
15:22
15:02
14:42
14:22
14:02
13:42
13:22
13:02
12:42
12:22
12:02
11:42
11:22
10:52
10:27
10:07
9:47
4
Time
Figure 6.27 Electrical Efficiency of fully charged and partially discharged at the
similar meteorological condition
The electrical efficiencies of stand alone system which in battery bank fully
charged and partially discharged condition are presented in Fig 6.27. The electrical
efficiency of the system at the fully charged battery condition will be lower than that in
the usual condition and this may be observed in Fig 6.27. The electrical efficiencies of
PV module are similar in the initial condition, once the battery bank is fully charged by
the PV module; the electrical efficiency of the PV module will drastically drop. The
electrical efficiency of PV module can decrease to 4.6% in the condition of fully
charged of battery bank. However, if the battery bank of the system is partially
discharged, the electrical efficiency may be able to reach 13.4%. This significant
difference has been found from the experiment and it also states the importance of
discharging battery regularly to ensure that the PV module can always be operated
effectively.
95
35.00
31.20
Total Solar Power
30.00
31.00
Energy (MJ)
Electrical Energy
25.00
22.70
Thermal Energy
20.00
17.10
16.40
13.70
15.00
10.90
10.60
10.00
6.18
4.37
3.24
5.00
1.39
3.26
1.11
2.30
0.00
1
2
3
4
Days
5
Figure 6.28 Input solar radiation and thermal and electrical energy production over five
days
25.00
Electrical Energy
Energy (MJ)
20.00
Thermal Energy
Total Energy Gain
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
1
2
3
4
5
Days
Figure 6.29 Electrical and thermal energy and the total energy gain over the five days
96
Thermal Efficiency
70.00%
Electrical Efficiency
60.00%
Efficiency
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
5 5 .1 7 %
5 2 .5 6 %
4 5 .1 1 %
4 7 .9 5 %
4 1 .2 3 %
20.00%
10.00%
1 0 .1 5 %
1 0 .3 8 %
1
2
1 0 .4 7 %
1 0 .5 2 %
1 0 .1 7 %
3
4
5
0.00%
Days
Figure 6.30 Comparison of thermal and electrical efficiency over 5 days.
The solar power input over the five days (from 22 September to 26 September) is
displayed in Fig 6.28. The electrical and thermal energy produced by the system are
also given. This provides a good estimation of how much energy can be generated by
using this experimental set-up. Application wise, it can also show that how much
electrical energy can be withdrawn from the PV module to be utilised in household
application. Fig 6.28 also shows the incident solar power for those five days which
means that according to the solar power input information, the energy power output of
thermal and electrical can be estimated.
Fig 6.29 show that a large amount of thermal energy was generated during the
operation of PV system, and this also shows that the thermal energy can be utilised in
other aspects like, drying the food product or using as a heater in temperate zone
country instead of exhausting the hot air to the surrounding. Due to the meteorological
97
condition, the solar radiation at Day 3 was much lower than the rest of days and this
was also reflected on the energy output in thermal and electrical aspect. Fig 6.29 shows
that the peak of total energy output occurs on the second day and fourth days. This can
be attributed to the meteorological conditions on those days. The ambient temperature
of those two days was relatively high and the solar radiation was also very intense.
Therefore, it can be concluded that under the proper function of the system, the output
energy can be generated proportional to the solar power input.
The efficiency of the system shown in Fig 6.30 indicates that the electrical
efficiency seems to be more stable than the thermal efficiency. The average electrical
efficiency range is around 10.1% to 10.9%. However, the thermal efficiencies of the
system are around 40% higher than the electrical efficiency of the system. From the
graph, it can be easily seen that the thermal efficiency fluctuates significantly, unlike
electrical efficiency. The reason could be that the thermal efficiency is a function not
only of solar irradiation but also of the ambient temperature, heat losses to the
surrounding and other meteorological parameters. Due to those factors, the variation of
the thermal efficiency of the system is understandable. The total efficiency of the
system is around 55% to 65%. It can be concluded that the overall efficiency of the
PV/T system is much higher than the PV system. This is also implied that the PV/T
system can adequately harness the solar energy.
98
6.3 Simulation heat transfer on a single cell under the meteorological
condition on 23 September 2009
This simulation was done using a commercial finite element software-COMSOL
MULTIPHYSICS. In this simulation, the meteorological data of 23 September 2009
were used to simulate the operation of PV system under the cooling condition. The
purpose of this simulation is to investigate the temperature profile of PV module under
the solar irradiation at 23 September 2009 and the experimental data are used to verify
the simulation result. A good agreement between the simulation and experimental
results has been shown in the Fig 6.31. Some deviations are presented from 12.00 pm
to 2 pm. This may be attributed to the variation of the irradiation data and it can be
seen at Fig 6. 20. This figure shows the temperature profile of the back of the PV
module. However, Fig 6.32 shows the temperature profile of the front glass of PV
module. The discrepancy of simulation and experimental data are significant in this
figure and this is because that the wind speed of the simulation is assumed to be
constant but in the real meteorological condition the wind speed is varied from time to
time and it is also very difficult to use a polynomial equation to represent. For that
reason, the temperature profile of the front glass of panel is quite different that from
the experiment but the trend according to the solar irradiation is still in agreement.
99
56
54
Temperature (C)
52
50
48
46
44
Experiment
42
Simulation
40
38
9:47
10:21
10:51
11:19
11:58
12:04
13:20
13:52
15:42
16:02
16:25
Time
Figure 6.31 A comparison of simulation and experiment in the temperature profile of
the back of PV module
54
Temperature (C)
52
50
48
46
Experiment
Simulation
44
42
40
9:47
10:21
10:51
11:19
11:58
12:04
13:20
13:52
15:42
16:02
16:25
Time
Figure 6.32 A comparison of simulation and experiment in the temperature profile of
the front of PV module
100
Figure 6.33 Temperature contour of the PV cell at 1:30 pm (highest solar radiation on
that day)
Temperature profile of PV module is displayed in Fig 6.33. The maximum
temperature of the module occurrs at the silicon cell. This is attributed to the high
absorption of silicon cell in solar irradiation. Temperature of Tedlar (backsheet) is
higher than front glass of PV module, this can be explained that the tedlar is closer to
the silicon cell compared to the front glass even though the thermal diffusivity of the
glass is higher than Tedlar. In addition, from the analysis in chapter 5, it is showed that
the solar irradiation with the wavelength more than 1.1μm will transmit the silicon
solar cell and absorbed by the Tedlar (backsheet). Therefore, the simulation results
show that the temperature at the back of PV module is higher than that of the front
glass.
101
Figure 6.34 Temperature gradient of the PV module at 1:30 pm
The temperature gradient over the module is also investigated in this simulation.
The results of simulation are presented in Fig 6. 34. The maximum and minimum
temperature gradient of the PV module occurs in the material of Tedlar and silicon
solar cell, respectively. According to the heat diffusion equation Eq 5-19, the thermal
diffusivity is inversely proportional to the temperature gradient. Table 5-1 shows the
thermal diffusivity of each layer of material inside the PV module. The thermal
diffusivity of silicon solar cell is the highest among the materials and it means that the
material of large thermal diffusivity will respond quickly to change in its thermal
environment. For that reason, the temperature gradient of the silicon solar cell is the
lowest among the materials. However, the thermal diffusivity of Tedlar is the lowest
among the materials, by using the Eq 5-19, it is understandable that the temperature
102
gradient of this material is the highest due to the low thermal diffusivity in the
denominator of the equation.
This simulation has accurately predicted the behaviour of the PV module under
the meteorological condition at 23 September 2009. This model can be used to
simulate different type of meteorological conditions to predict the temperature profile
of PV module. However, the meteorological condition, like solar irradiation, ambient
temperature and wind speed, must be able to use a polynomial equation to represent it
otherwise the simulation result might have a significant discrepancy with the
experimental outcome. This is because that the simulation model is created by using a
transient equation and the ambient temperature and solar irradiation is varied from
time to time, therefore, if those meteorological conditions cannot be represented as a
polynomial equation, the discrepancy between the experiment and simulation would be
very significant.
103
CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSION
The performance of a PV/T system has been successfully determined in an
experimental study. The result of the heat transfer simulation of the silicon solar cell
was also in good agreement with the experimental results.
The impact of the cooling on the PV module has been thoroughly discussed in the
thesis. The PV module temperature is a function of conversion efficiency, which can
severely adversely affect the electrical performance of the PV system. The electrical
efficiency of PV module at 68℃ is around 8.6%. Therefore, the pay back period of the
overall system needs to be extended and the degradation of the PV materials could also
happen due to the high operating temperature. The effects of cooling and non-cooling
on the PV module operating temperature are clearly presented in this thesis.
By using the active cooling technique, the experimental result has shown the
significant improvement on the electrical efficiency of PV module, the electrical
efficiency of PV module can be maintained at around 13%. The optimum flow rate to
enhance the heat transfer from the PV module to air is also found in this study to be
around 0.05 kg/s. The thermal performance of the PV/T system is also computed and it
shows that large amount of thermal energy is collected instead of being dissipated to
104
the environment or trapped in the PV module. The total energy efficiency of the system
can reach 65 %. In other words, there will be 65 % of solar irradiation converted into
the usable energy through the PV/T system of this study.
Furthermore, the uniform flow field which presented in the experiment also
presented a minor temperature difference over the PV module. It can be observed in
the layout of experimental result of Chapter 6. Reducing the temperature difference
over the different PV module can also help to increase the entire system electrical
efficiency. In short, the flow field of cooling medium is also a factor to get an efficient
PV/T system.
It then seems the advantageous to combine the PV module with the collector. The
high efficiency of the combined system can shorten the payback period of the entire
system. The cost of adding the collector to the PV module is not very significant
compared to the price of PV module itself. Therefore, the PV/T system is worth
developing in the industry.
105
CHAPTER 8
RECOMMENDATION
Some methods of increasing the performance of the PV/T system are
recommended in this chapter. The output power could then be increased and the
payback period shortened. Therefore, the modification should not significantly
increase the cost of the entire system, otherwise the pay back period might need to be
extended. The methods introduced below are of low cost but has significant impact on
the electrical efficiency.
For the PV cell, the electron in the PV material can only be knocked into higher
energy state by a photon of certain wavelength which corresponds to the band gap of
the PV material. For silicon cell, the photon of wavelength above 1.1 μm is unable to
knock the electron from valence band to conduction band and that part of energy will
be converted into phonon and increases the temperature of PV module. The radiation
of wavelength above 1.1 μm can be addressed as infrared radiation.
However, according to some research, it was found that water can be effectively
used to absorb the thermal energy from the IR band but allows transmission of the
visible spectrum [62] most useful for the PV operation. Fig 8.1 shows that the
absorption coefficient of water in visible band is very low compared to that in the
infrared band. This adequately indicates that the water effectively absorbs energy in
106
the infrared band and this there is too energy to knock the electron from valence band
to conduction band. Therefore the contribution of phonons from the infrared band can
be reduced and temperature of PV module can also be maintained.
Figure 8.1 Spectral absorption coefficient of pure water (solid line) and of pure sea
water (dotted line) as a function of wavelength.
In order to investigate this phenomenon, a design has been proposed as shown in
Fig 8.2. According to that design, the water can absorb the infrared in the sunlight and
let the visible band pass through the water without any interference. The temperature
of water which absorbs the infrared will increase and it can be utilised as household
application. The thermal energy from the infrared can be recovered instead of throwing
to the environment and thereby the total efficiency of the system will increase
significantly.
107
Figure 8.2 Transparent water passage in front of the PV panel to pre-filter the solar
irradiation before it strikes the solar cell.
Another method to boost the overall efficiency of the PV module involves a plane
reflector to augment the aperture area of the PV module. The plane reflector can be
used to increase the area of receiving sun light of PV module. The sunlight will be
reflected by the reflector to the PV module and the overall power output of the PV
module increases due to the increase of incident solar irradiation to the PV module.
The cost of the plane reflector is less than 5% of the cost of the PV system but the
efficiency of the PV module can significantly be boosted. However, due to the
meteorological condition, the inclination angle of the reflector should be adjusted to
the optimum value. In short, this is a very promising way to enhance the overall
performance of PV system without paying the high cost on the plane reflector itself.
108
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116
Appendix A
Manufacturer’s Specifications
A.1 Neste Advanced Power System Solar Modules
A.2 FirstPower Technology Deep Cycle Gel Batteries
A.3 Sanyo Denki DC Fan
117
Fig A.1. Specifications of PV modules
118
Fig A.2. Specifications of solar batteries
119
Fig A.3. Specifications of DC fan (model no. 109E2024MH002)
120
Appendix B
Calibration of T-type thermocouple
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple 1
80
70
y = 0.9946x + 0.8102
60
R2 = 0.9997
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
T1 (℃)
Thermocouple 2
70
y = 0.9946x + 0.6602
60
R2 = 0.9997
50
(℃)
Master Thermometer
80
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
T2 (℃)
121
50
60
70
80
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple 3
80
70
y = 0.9922x + 0.5936
60
R2 = 0.9996
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
T3 (℃)
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple 4
80
70
y = 0.9898x + 0.6075
60
R2 = 0.9996
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
T4 (℃)
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple-Inlet
80
70
y = 0.9869x + 0.8089
60
R2 = 0.9997
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
Inlet Temperature (℃)
122
60
70
80
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple-Outlet
80
70
y = 0.9929x + 0.3123
60
R2 = 0.9995
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Outlet Temperature (℃)
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple 7
80
70
y = 0.9844x + 0.5501
60
R2 = 0.9995
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
T7 (℃)
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple 8
80
70
y = 0.9873x + 0.4387
60
R2 = 0.9996
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
T8 (℃)
123
50
60
70
80
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple 9
80
70
y = 0.9887x + 0.3807
60
R2 = 0.9994
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
60
70
80
60
70
80
T9 (℃)
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple 10
80
70
y = 0.9799x + 0.6747
60
R2 = 0.9996
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
T10 (℃)
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple 11
80
70
y = 0.9881x + 0.5503
60
R2 = 0.9994
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
T11 (℃)
124
50
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple 12
80
70
y = 0.9902x + 0.3977
60
R2 = 0.9993
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
60
70
80
T12 (℃)
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple 13
80
70
60
y = 0.9935x + 0.2027
50
R2 = 0.999
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
T13 (℃)
Master Thermometer (℃)
Thermocouple 14
80
70
y = 0.9919x + 0.2999
60
R2 = 0.9993
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
T14 (℃)
125
50
60
70
80
Appendix C
Derivation of the Result
P = Aηo ( FT − C )[1 − β (T − To )]
= Aηo [ FT − C − FT β (T − To ) + C β (T − To )]
= Aηo [ F (T − To ) + FTo − C − F β (T − To ) 2 − F β To + C β (T − To )]
= Aηo [− F β (T − To ) 2 + ( F + C β )(T − To ) + ( FTo − C − F β To )]
= Aηo [−(T − To ) 2 +
Let
( FTo − C − F β To )
(F + Cβ )
(T − To ) +
]
Fβ
Fβ
T ' = T − To
P = Aηo [(T '−
F + C β 2 F + C β 2 FTo − C − F β To
) +(
) +
]
Fβ
2F β
2F β
126
Appendix D
Progress Log of Simulation
Progress - Solve Problem: Mon Dec 07 00:58:44 CST 2009
fem.sol=femtime(fem, ...
'solcomp',{'T'}, ...
'outcomp',{'T'}, ...
'tlist',[0:1:2331], ...
'tout','tlist');
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Number of degrees of freedom solved for: 1675
Symmetric matrices found.
Format not changed since UMFPACK uses unsymmetric storage.
Step
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
27
Time
0.001
0.003
0.007
0.015
0.031
0.063
0.127
0.255
0.511
1 out
1.023
2 out
2.047
3 out
4 out
Res
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
17
19
2331 out
Jac Sol Order Tfail NLfail
2
3
1
0
2
5
2
0
3
7
1
0
4
9
1
0
5 11
1
0
6 13
1
0
7 15
1
0
8 17
1
0
9 19
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
21
10
21
1
0
0
23
11
23
1
0
0
39
22
39
3
0
0
Time-stepping completed.
127
[...]... electrical efficiency of the PV cell is significantly affected by the operating temperature The electrical efficiency of PV cell linearly decreases when the operating temperature increases, which is an advantage of the PVT system 1.2.4 Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/ T) System A photovoltaic/ thermal hybrid system (or PVT system) is a combination of photovoltaic and solar thermal system The PVT system can produce... temperature profile of the back of PV module 100 Figure 6.32 A comparison of simulation and experiment in the temperature profile of the front of PV module 100 Figure 6.33 Temperature contour of the PV cell at 1:30 pm (highest solar radiation on that day) 101 Figure 6.34 Temperature gradient of the PV module at 1:30 pm 102 Figure 8.1 Spectral absorption coefficient of pure water (solid line) and of pure... Cross section view of velocity contour of manifold design 71 Figure 6.8 Top view of the pressure contour of manifold design 72 Figure 6.9 Temperature profile of the front glass of module 73 Figure 6.10 Temperature profile of inlet and outlet flow 74 Figure 6.11 Variation of temperature difference (To-Ti) with incident radiation for flow rate 0.0389 kg/s and 0.0932 kg/s 75 Figure 6.12 Thermal efficiency... in an increase of COP from 2 to 3 under low irradiance conditions However, the COP of the system can attain a value of 6 when it is under high irradiance Zondag et al [22] and Jong [23] have conducted a series of comparison between different types of PV/T design and different types of thermal systems Those experiments generally investigated the covered and uncovered PV/T and thermal system with and... 2.5 shows that thermal exergy of the coverless PV/T was the lowest amongst the system considered The latter may be due to heat losses from the top of the device Figure 2.5 Monthly changes of available energy gain by exergetic evaluation on thermal [17] 12 The thermal exergy with monthly changes is presented in Fig 2.5.Flow rate affects the performance of PV/T system since the increase of water velocity... The PVT system refers to a system that extracts heat from the panel with using heat transfer fluid, usually water or air and sometimes both There are several reasons which motivate the development of the PV/T system One of the main reasons is that PV/T system can provide higher efficiency than individual PV and thermal collector system With increased the efficiency, the payback period of the system. .. heat pump The high thermal efficiency of the system is because that the inflow air is always kept in low temperature However, the net electrical efficiency of the system turns into negative because of the energy consumption of the heat pumps Currently, PV/T systems are always installed for residential use In order to investigate the actual condition of the residential building, the PV/T systems were installed... availability of the roof top space per house The disadvantage of this system is that the shading angle of PVT collector must be smaller than the conventional solar thermal collector because of the shading effect 2.2 Air cooled PV/T The first PV/T air facility was built in 1973 at the University of Delaware This PV/T air facility was called as ‘Solar House’ and the air collectors were integrated in the roof top... different kinds of configurations developed to test the overall performance of the combined system Numerical simulation of PV/T systems has also provided more detailed information on the performance of the system 2.1 Water cooled PV/T Figure 2.1 Water PV/T collector [15] 7 Figure 2.2 Water and air mixed-type PV/T collectors [5] Figure 2.1 shows the common configurations of current PV/T systems in use... of the crystalline silicon is 43% They also proposed that the system can also be utilized for pre-heating of hot water for residents in that building Furthermore, the systems can also provide cooling for the building with absorption of heat by the wall of building reduced during the operation of PVT system It was concluded that the hybrid system has potential to be widely advocated in a sub-tropical ... advantage of the PVT system 1.2.4 Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/ T) System A photovoltaic/ thermal hybrid system (or PVT system) is a combination of photovoltaic and solar thermal system The PVT system can produce... investigate the thermal and electrical performances of the Photovoltaic thermal system This system was built on the roof top of EA building at the National University of Singapore The photograph of the... Calibration of T-type thermocouple 121 Appendix C Derivation of the result 126 Appendix D Process log of Simulation 127 iv Summary This thesis discusses aspects of a photovoltaic/ thermal (PV/ T) system