Modified methods for assessing photovoltaic solar thermal collectors

Abstract

Photovoltaic solar thermal collector (PVT) is a promising hybrid technology for generating heat and electricity simultaneously. Recently, vast research has been conducted to improve its performance. Most of the time, the manufacturing cost is needed to be taken into consideration by PVT designers and/or manufacturers, to justify producing certain PVT designs. In the existing methods, the assessment of PVT with different designs was governed only by their total energy or exergy output, area, volume and weight, making the PVT designs comparison becomes difficult if the manufacturing cost is to be considered. This paper is intended to link the manufacturing cost parameter into the existing methods. The modified methods are yield per area per cost, yield per volume per cost and yield per weight per cost factors which are defined and derived. Based on the modified methods, the optimum PVT design will have higher values of the proposed factors. The significance, applicability conditions, limitations and the influential parameters of the proposed factors are illustrated. It is shown that the modified methods are helpful in classifying PVT with different designs based on their energy or exergy output, area, volume, weight as well as manufacturing cost. These methods may have a potential to be used by the designers and/or manufacturers of PVT in making their design decisions.