Performance investigation of a double pass PVT assisted heat pump system with latent heat storage unit

Abstract

The storage of heat and electrical energy plays a crucial role in obtaining heat and electrical energy from solar energy in a sustainable way for low carbon generation. In this study, a hybrid system has been developed and tested that can produce and store both heat and electrical energy from solar energy at the same time and can use the stored energy when necessary in order to provide a sustainable heating load. For this hybrid system, a new type (double pass) of photovoltaic thermal panel and a novel latent heat storage unit integrated with the condenser of the heat pump were designed and manufactured. In addition, numerical analysis was performed using the Ansys-Fluent program to characterize the thermal behavior of the phase change material in the latent heat storage unit. The highest average electrical and thermal efficiency of the photovoltaic thermal panel for the heat pump system were measured as 16.74% and 66.98%, respectively. It was observed that the average coefficient of performance of the heat pump system varied between 2.93 and 3.18. The photovoltaic thermal panel was able to store 1.07 kWh of electrical energy and produced 9.59% more electricity than the photovoltaic panel. The melting time of paraffin was between 183 and 201 min and the solidification time between 348 and 357. Melting and solidification times varied according to the performance of the heat pump was seen.