Study on PV Thermal Integrated systems for Rooftop Applications

Abstract

Around 90% of the total solar wafers produced and deployed around the globe is primarily based either on mono or polycrystalline silicon cells. Majority of these are deployed for converting incoming insolation directly to electrical energy and are termed as photovoltaic systems (PV). Another application is to convert the incoming solar energy into thermal energy and termed as Thermal systems (T). The vital components for both the above conversions are their respective solar energy collection systems. As the temperature rises, the conversion efficiency of solar cells decreases. This is due to the fact that with increase in temperature, there will be a reduction in the mobility of charge carriers. When deployed in field, photovoltaic cells will heat up rapidly as they are good heat absorbers. In storage integrated solar installations, heat is considered as killer of all batteries and encapsulate. The work aims at design and development of an integrated PV thermal solar system to efficiently utilise the incoming solar energy. An efficient heat exchanger mechanism will help bringing in possibility of having a storage integrated solar module so that the final solution will have generation, storage and thermal evacuation in the same laminate. The integrated model when implemented gives enough room and a lower temperature chamber, where the batteries could be easily integrated without loss of cycle life and AH capacity loss.