Novel design of concentrating photovoltaic thermal collector – A comparative analysis with existing configurations

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to propose a novel concentrating photovoltaic thermal (CPVT) collector based on parabolic trough concentrator with a semi-cylindrical receiver, and provide a comprehensive comparative analysis of the proposed configuration with the main existing CPVT collectors. To this end, a thermal model of the considered solar collectors is developed to investigate the impact of the receiver’s design on the collector’s performance in terms of their thermal, electrical, primary energy and exergy efficiencies. A residential building, located in the Moroccan city of Ouarzazate, characterized by its hot semi-arid climate, is considered as a case study to investigate the integration of solar collectors in air-conditioning application. A performance, economic and environmental analyses of CPVT driven cooling system are conducted by means of key indicators such as, solar coefficient of performance (SCOP), discounted payback period (DPP), levelized cost of cooling (LCOC), savings-to-investment ratio (SIR) and saved greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions.The results revealed that the proposed CPVT collector exhibited the highest primary energy efficiency with a value of 0.798. The performance outcomes of the solar cooling systems proved that a SCOP of 0.488 was achieved by the proposed CPVT collector followed by those based on the triangular, tubular and rectangular receivers with a value of 0.436, 0.406 and 0.367 respectively. Furthermore, from an economic perspective, the novel CPVT configuration has been proven to be the most cost-effective one with a LCOC, DPP and SIR of 0.129 $/kWh, 12.3 years and 1.488, respectively. Moreover, this configuration was found to be the most eco-friendly one with the lowest greenhouse gases emissions. This study could contribute to the promotion of the sustainable CPVT technology and is expected to be a guideline to select the most suitable configuration of CPVT collectors for solar cooling purposes.