Energy-efficient solar heat supply system based on hybrid photovoltaic collector

Abstract

Following the commitments made under the Paris Climate Agreement, the scientific community has initiated a strategic increase in the share of renewable energy sources while gradually reducing dependence on traditional carbon fuels. Priority is given to the acceleration of the development of the photovoltaic industry, which has shown a constant increase in capacity over the past decades. According to the energy and climate strategies of the European Union, a significant increase in the amount of energy generation due to solar sources is planned. Therefore, the article is devoted to the development of a solar heat supply system based on a hybrid thermal photovoltaic solar collector with an improved design and analysis of the main characteristics of its operation using computer modeling. The authors have developed a 3D computer model of the proposed hybrid system with a solar collector by using SolidWorks software. The change in the temperature of the heat carrier in the hybrid thermal photovoltaic solar collector under constant solar radiation was analyzed. The temperature change of the coolant in the thermal accumulator of the system was also investigated. The results of the simulation of thermal processes revealed the key regularities of the temperature increase during the computer experiment, both in the hybrid thermal photovoltaic solar collector and in the thermal accumulator. The change in the instantaneous specific heat capacity of the developed solar collector was analyzed, and its average efficiency was estimated. The trends of changes in the thermal efficiency of the developed heat supply system during the computer experiment were determined. The novelty of the study is that the design of the hybrid thermophotoelectric solar collector has been improved, its 3D computer model has been developed, and the main thermal characteristics of the developed heat supply system with constant solar radiation have been obtained, which will contribute to the development of calculation methods for such heat supply systems with hybrid solar collectors in the future.