Performance Evaluation of Air-Based Photovoltaic Thermal Collector Integrated with Dual Duct and Semicircular Turbulator in Actual Climate Conditions

Abstract

An air-based photovoltaic thermal collector (PVTC) is a system that generates both electricity and heat using air flowing over a photovoltaic (PV) module. This system offers the advantage of easy maintenance; however, it suffers from lower thermal efficiency compared to other PVTCs, mostly owing to the low heat capacity of air. Thus, this study introduces a novel PVTC incorporating dual ducts and semicircular turbulators, which were experimentally evaluated under actual weather conditions in the Republic of Korea. The proposed PVTC was compared with two other types of PVTC: one is a single-duct PVTC with semicircular turbulators, and the other is a dual-duct PVTC without turbulators. The results showed that the thermal efficiency of the proposed PVTC increased by approximately 88.7% compared to the single-duct PVTC with a turbulator and by 9.3% compared to the dual-duct PVTC without a turbulator. The electrical efficiency showed a slight decrease of about 7.2% compared to the single-duct PVTC but an increase of 1.4% compared to the dual-duct PVTC without a turbulator. Overall, the total efficiency of the proposed PVTC increased by 54.2% and 7.7% compared to the single-duct PVTC and the dual-duct PVTC without a turbulator, respectively. These experimental results demonstrate that attaching dual ducts and semicircular turbulators to an existing PVTC increases the daily thermal energy output, which ultimately enhances the total daily energy output.