Abstract
This paper compared the performance of solar photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) air collectors (SPVTAC) based on amorphous silicon solar cells with traditional solar air collectors and individual photovoltaic (PV) modules. The SPVTAC was proposed to overcome the problems of large thermal stresses at fluctuating temperatures and frost in winter, and also due to their working suitability in medium–high temperature ranges. The energy and exergy performance of the three devices were tested and analyzed with different airflow rates, inlet temperatures and solar irradiance. The experimental results show that the thermal efficiency of SPVTAC was approximately 25% lower than the traditional solar air collector at the same operating condition. Also, the electrical efficiency of SPVTAC was higher than the individual PV system (4.65%) when the air mass flow rate was over 0.040 kg/s. For each degree increase in the inlet temperature, the thermal efficiency of the amorphous silicon SPVTAC decreased by approximately 0.45%, the electrical efficiency decreased by approximately 0.042% and the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet decreased by 0.24 °C. The maximum total exergy efficiency of the SPVTAC (12.22%) and the maximum thermal exergy efficiency of the traditional solar air collector (8.71%) was achieved at an inlet air temperature of 60 °C. These experimental results provide a reference for further applications of amorphous silicon solar cells integrated with SPVTAC.
Published Version
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