Energy and exergy evaluation of a novel baffled water photovoltaic/thermal system using integrated collector storage as thermal system: An experimental study

Abstract

This study analyzes a new baffled photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) collector consisting of a baffled integrated collector storage (ICS) system integrated with a polycrystalline silicon PV panel. ICS systems have a significant advantage: combining absorbing and storage components causes a simple, affordable structure; furthermore, to improve the convection mechanism, several baffles are installed in the ICS. The energy and exergy analyses were carried out experimentally to discuss the efficiency of the PV/T collector comprehensively. The reserved water stratifies in the tank during daytime, and its temperature obtains the maximum values of 47.2 °C and 38.1 °C at the top and bottom of the tank. Interestingly, the mean water temperature is lower than the ambient temperature in the morning due to radiative sky cooling at night. The thermal, electrical, and overall energy efficiencies of the PV/T system are high in the early morning, nearly 21.67%, 15.22%, and 65.09%; then, these energy efficiencies reduce due to increasing ambient heat losses and PV temperature. Thermal exergy efficiency reaches nearly 0.15%, while electrical exergy efficiency varies between 21% and 22% during daily hours. Therefore, the simple structure with high overall efficiency, nearly 65%, causes the new baffled PV/T collector to be an affordable, robust PV/T system.