Thermal Load Levelling Research Articles

Multi-factor thermal analysis of phase change material integrated roofing elements

In the present study, the PCM layer is integrated into the roof, analyzed, and compared for its thermal behaviour in terms of Indoor Air Temperature Reduction (IATR), Thermal Load Levelling (TLL), and Lag Time (LT) to determine the ideal position, thickness, and type of PCM. The observations from the experimental analysis were validated using COMSOL Multiphysics v6.0 with available literature. The results showed that PCM-integrated roofs reduced the interior temperature by around 30%. Furthermore, the fluctuations in the interior temperatures were reduced to 6.1% with PCM integration within the roof. A lag time of 5–8.25 h was observed for the PCM roofs. The study also found that the material properties impact the overall thermal behaviour of the PCM-integrated roofs. These properties were further explored using continuous cyclic thermal loading and variation of latent heat over a period of four days for three climatic zones in India. Abbreviations: PCM: Phase Change Material; CC: Conventional Concrete; AAC: Autoclaved Aerated Cement; TMY: Typical Meteorological Years; epw file: Energy Plus Weather File; mPCM: Microencapsulated Phase Change Material; PTC: Positive Temperature Coefficient; DHT: Digital Temperature And Humidity; IATR: Indoor Air Temperature Reduction (%); TLL: Thermal Load Levelling (%); LT: Lag Time (hours)

Method of reliability control of thermoelectric systems to ensure thermal regimes

The paper presents the results of research of controllability of the thermoelectric system for ensuring thermal modes of electronic equipment, including a regulator, a cooler, and a component of excess heat removal to the environment. It is shown that for the use of methods of optimization of automatic control systems it is necessary to study the transfer and dynamic characteristics of the object - thermoelectric cooling device with one input and one output. The mathematical model of the thermoelectric cooler of the system of providing thermal modes of a given design is presented, which takes into account the influence of the conditions of interaction of the heat sink with the medium on the main significant parameters, reliability indicators, dynamic and energy characteristics of the single stage cooler. The model is created for the operating range of cooling, level of thermal load, geometry of thermocouple branches, different temperature of the medium, for the characteristic thermal regime of maximum cooling capacity. The results of calculations of the main significant parameters, reliability indicators, dynamic and energy characteristics of the cooler for different medium temperature in the operating temperature range and variation of conditions of heat exchange of the heat sink with the medium are given. It is shown that as the intensity of heat exchange of the heat sink with the medium increases, the temperature difference between the heat sink and the medium decreases. This makes it possible to significantly reduce the relative failure rate, increase the probability of failure-free operation of the thermoelectric cooler and control the reliability indicators of the device of a given design during operation.

Preferred method and performance evaluation of heterogeneous composite phase change material (CPCM) wallboard in different seasons

The application of phase change materials (PCMs) in building envelopes has been developed in past decades and many strategies have been adopted to improve the heat resistance and capacity performance. However, rare studies focused on optimizing these characteristics of PCM wallboard in different seasons and providing preferred method for selecting the optimal PCMs. This study constructed a heterogeneous wall acting in different seasons and developed a pre-screening method of PCMs based on the analytic hierarchy process. CA-HD/EG with higher thermal conductivity (2.16 W/(m·K)) and lower melting point (25.4 °C) acted as the inner layer, and paraffin/porous silica with lower thermal conductivity (0.37 W/(m·K)) and higher melting point (29.3 °C) acted as the outer layer. Two experimental boxes were built to compare the thermal performance of CPCM and gypsum wallboard. The decrement factor in winter increased by 6.7 %, and the heat storage coefficient in summer increased by 0.97. The thermal comfort duration in winter was extended by 17.9 %, and the thermal load leveling in summer was reduced by 11.5 %. The heating/cooling water supply duration was shortened by 2.5 h, resulting in an energy-saving rate of 13.3 %. Consequently, the CPCM wallboard maintained a better indoor thermal environment with a lower energy consumption.

Ultrasonic inspection of lithium-ion pouch cells subjected to localized thermal abuse

Safety concerns associated with thermal runaway (TR) in lithium-ion cells have limited their adoption in high-power applications such as battery electric vehicles or energy storage systems. In practice, cells are more likely to encounter localized heating than total volume heating, so detecting and preventing TR in this thermal loading environment remains critically important. In this work, we employ ultrasonic inspection (US) to probe NMC lithium-ion cells subjected to localized, thermal loading to illustrate the utility of ultrasonic methods for TR detection. The method employs US Gaussian pulses with two different center frequencies propagating along two different paths to gain additional knowledge of the internal state of a mechanically-confined, thermally-loaded pouch cell during localized heating between 200∘C and 450∘C in different iterations of the test. The time of flight shift (TOFS) and signal amplitude (SA) are used to indicate thermal loading. For a given frequency-path pair the TOFS and SA trends under different levels of thermal loading are consistent. Damage indicators are developed using the US characteristics to give a time-before-TR warning. We demonstrate that through the use of multiple frequency-path pairs and ultrasonic metrics, US measurements can detect an impending battery failure up to twenty-five minutes in advance of TR.

Superalloy—Steel Joint in Microstructural and Mechanical Characterisation for Manufacturing Rotor Components

The structure of energy rotor components includes different structural materials in the sections, which are subjected to varying levels of thermal loading. The first component section has to include a precipitation-hardened nickel-based alloy, while the second one may be manufactured from other materials. Due to the installation cost, the use of expensive nickel-based materials is not recommended for applications in sections with a lower degree of thermal loading. Therefore, this aspect is still actually from an engineering point of view and is discussed in the paper by means of manufacturing and experimental approaches. The paper follows the welding problems related to a hybrid joint made of superalloy (Alloy 59) and hard rusting steel (S355J2W+N steel). The problem is solved using the MIG process at various parameters. With respect to the joint quality, microstructural features and mechanical parameters of the examined zone are presented. In the case of microstructure analysis, the dendritic and cellular natures of austenite were dominant elements of the joint. Mechanical tests have expressed a 50% reduction in elongation of the steel and alloy steel weld and lowering mechanical parameters. Mechanical parameters of the joint were on the level of their values observed for the steel, while the hardening coefficient followed the hardening curve of the alloy. Decohesion of the steel and mixed weld has reflected the constant proportion of values of axial and shear stress components up to the total separation. It is noted the tensile curves of the alloy and alloy steel joint follow a very similar shape, reporting the same response on the monotonic tension. The materials can be analysed by applying constitutive equations at very similar values of their coefficients. The obtained results enabled elaborating and examining the MIG welding process for thick-walled structures (not smaller than 8 mm) in detail giving all parameters required for technology. Finally, the technology for producing a hybrid joint using difficult-to-weld materials with different physical and mechanical properties, such as nickel alloys and low-alloy steels, is proposed. Results have shown it possible to develop a technology for producing of hybrid joints (supper alloy + hard rusting steel) with assumed physical and mechanical properties for rotors applied in the power boiler. This solution was proposed instead of previously used elements of rotors from expensive materials. It was assumed that the newly proposed and utilised method of welding will allow for obtaining good properties in terms of energy devices.

Performance of Quonset-Type Greenhouse Integrated With Thin Film Photovoltaic Thermal System Combined With Earth-Air Heat Exchanger for Hot and Dry Climatic Conditions

Abstract The present study proposes a Quonset-type greenhouse integrated with a thin-film photovoltaic thermal (GiPVT) system combined with an earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE) for crop cultivation in harsh hot climate conditions. A periodic thermal model in terms of input climatic and design parameters has been developed to evaluate the GiPVT system’s thermal performance. This model is based on the energy balance equations of the GiPVT system, and it calculates PV roof temperature, greenhouse air temperature, and plant temperature for a given climatic data, i.e., solar irradiation and ambient air temperature. Furthermore, the thermal load leveling for the GiPVT system is determined to assess the thermal comfort status within the enclosed space of the system. The results indicate that EAHE successfully reduces greenhouse air temperature and increases the thermal comfort level inside the GiPVT system. Corresponding to the optimum flowrate of 0.5 kg/s, the maximum temperature of the plants and greenhouse is reduced by 20 °C and 21 °C, respectively. Moreover, the present GiPVT system produces 29.22 kWh of electrical energy per day, making the system self-sustainable.

Empirical Study of the Effect of Thermal Loading on the Heating Efficiency of Variable-Speed Air Source Heat Pumps

Heating buildings with air source heat pumps (ASHPs) has the potential to save energy compared to utilizing conventional heat sources. Accurate understanding of the efficiency of ASHPs is important to maximize the energy savings. While it is well understood that, in general, ASHP efficiency decreases with decreasing outdoor temperature, it is not well understood how the ASHP efficiency changes with different levels of thermal loading, even though it is an important consideration for sizing and controlling ASHPs. The goal of this study was to create an empirical model of the ASHP efficiency as a function of two independent variables–outside temperature and level of thermal loading. Four ductless mini-split ASHPs were evaluated in a cold chamber where the temperature (representing the outdoor temperature) was varied over a wide range. For each temperature, the ASHP performance data were collected at several levels of thermal loading. The data for all four ASHPs were combined and approximated with an analytical function that can be used as a general model for the ASHP steady-state efficiency as a function of the outside temperature and level of thermal loading. To the knowledge of the authors, no such empirical model that is solely based on third-party test data has been published before. While limitations exist, the model can be used to help guide future selection and operation of ASHPs.

A novel degree-hour method for rational design loading

Cooling degree-hours (CDH) received the broadest application in evaluation of the ambient air cooling efficiency in power engineering (engine intake air cooling systems) and air conditioning. The current CDH numbers are defined as a drop in air temperature multiplied by associated time duration of performance and their summarized annual number is used to estimate the annual effect achieved due to sucked air cooling in power plants based on combustion engines (fuel saving, power output increment) and in air conditioning (refrigeration energy generation according to needs). A majority of approaches to designing ambient air cooling systems is proceeding from the cooling capacity of the chillers selected to provide a maximum current or annual CDH number with corresponding maximum current or annual effect (additional energy produced or fuel consumption reduction) in site climate location. But such approaches lead to inevitable oversizing the chillers and cooling systems in the whole. The analysis of intake air cooling efficiency in site varying climatic conditions, accompanied by quite a simple numerical simulation, enabled to reveal the potential of its enhancement and evaluate numerically the results of each step of designing in logical sequence. The new approaches to cooling system rational designing were introduced, that enables to synthesize and substantiate innovative principal decisions to exclude unproductive waste of installed (design) cooling capacity in actual operation. The innovative findings of methodological approaches include the use of the rate of annual CDH number increment as an indicator for selecting the optimum and rational values of design cooling capacity. The optimum cooling capacity corresponds to maximum rate of summarized annual CDH increment and maximum level of thermal loading accordingly, which provides minimum sizes of the chiller. In reality, it is a minimum permissible value of cooling capacity of the chiller installed and the overall ambient air cooling system. The rational cooling capacity, that enables to achieve practically maximum value of annual CDH and avoid chiller oversizing, is determined as the second, local, maximum of the rate in the summarized annual CDH over the range above the first one, global, maximum. A rational design cooling capacity determined by applying the novel methodology allows to decrease the ambient air cooling system sizes by 15 to 20% compared with traditional designing issuing from the peaked thermal load during a year. With this practically a maximum annual effect in fuel saving (energy generation or others) can be achieved too.

Impact of building integrated photovoltaic-phase change material panels on building energy efficiency improvement: a case study

ABSTRACT Integrating phase change material with building envelopes is recently considered one of the most reliable passive solutions to mitigate indoor temperature fluctuations, improving therefore indoor comfort. In addition, the integration of photovoltaics to combat the gradual increase in energy consumption is highly increasing to meet the growing demand for energy. Using phase change material to improve thermal and electrical performances of building integrated photovoltaic systems and to reduce incoming heat energy indoors, simultaneously, were performed. Interestingly, it is highly recommended to integrate the building integrated photovoltaic phase change material systems on inclined roofs in order to perform the phase change material as preferred through a cyclic process. The peak temperature of the inclined and vertical building integrated photovoltaic systems decreased from 70.5°C and 41°C to 41.4°C and 31°C, respectively. Hence, a drop in average indoor daytime temperature where the peak indoor temperature has been reduced to about 4.5°C. The inclined and vertical building integrated photovoltaic systems’ DC power output, at midday, has been increased from 74.5 W to 108.5 W and 37.5 W to 38.5 W. Eventually, the use of phase change material decreased the thermal load leveling by 7%, 2% and 1.5% during the first three days, respectively, After the third day, the decrease of the thermal load leveling remained constant at 3%. Consequently, findings reveal that using phase change material could be an excellent solution to decrease indoor air temperature fluctuation and can bring higher temperature drops.

Numerical Investigation of a Phase Change Material Building Integrating Solar Thermal Collector PCM-BST

Abstract Sensible thermal energy storage (TES) systems can reduce energy environmental fluctuation dependency with the nocturnal energy needs usage in maintaining the building's comfort levels. In the present paper, phase change material (PCM) is introduced to improve the thermal energy storage capacity of a solar collector integrating a novel composite PCM/concrete wall. A mathematical model based upon the conservation and heat transfer equations has been developed using the enthalpy method. The equations that govern the problem were discretized with the control volume scheme and solved iteratively using the tridiagonal matrix algorithm (TDMA). The numerical investigation has been implemented into a personal fortran code. Many series of simulation runs were executed. The position of the PCM layer within the wall and the PCM melting temperature are varied in the range 0 cm ≤ xm ≤ 7.5 cm and 15 °C ≤ Tm ≤ 35 °C, respectively. The objective is to let inner temperature Tin swing close to a comfort threshold. The position of PCM close to the absorber improves the efficiency of the room heating with good nocturnal use of latent heat stored during the day. PCM melting temperature affects deeply the composite PCM/concrete wall/solar collector behavior. Lastly, PCM gained the system an important benefit which is the solar collector high-temperature isolation as to not reach the room and disturb the inside comfort zone by melting and solidifying. Those parameters can be considered as the primary pointers for PCM/wall integrated solar collector design. Also, a daily heating potential, Qh, and thermal load leveling, TLL, are introduced to evaluate the system performance.

Semi-Transparent Photovoltaic Thermal Greenhouse System Combined With Earth Air Heat Exchanger for Hot Climatic Condition

Abstract Semi-transparent photovoltaic thermal (SPVT) greenhouse system combined with an earth air heat exchanger (EAHE) has been developed to make the system sustainable. The system is designed to cultivate plants in a hot climatic condition, where green net is provided, which bifurcates the enclosed space of the greenhouse into zone-1 and zone-2, and this green net cut the solar radiation incident on the plants. The influence of air changes in zone-1, mass flowrate of air flowing through EAHE, and packing factor on photovoltaic (PV) cell, air of the greenhouse, and the plant temperatures is investigated for a typical harsh summer day by using periodic model of these parameters. Furthermore, for a holistic performance assessment of this SPVT greenhouse, exergy, thermal load leveling, and decrement factor are evaluated. Results indicate that the optimum temperature range for plant growth (30 °C–37 °C) within the greenhouse can be achieved through a combination of ventilation in zone-1 and integration of EAHE. The temperature of plants reduced by 9 °C for 30 air changes in zone-1, and the temperature reduces further by 24 °C when EAHE having a flowrate of 0.5 kg/s is operated. The SPVT greenhouse system also generates 128 kWh of daily overall exergy that makes the system sustainable.

Evaluating the Effect of Cover Materials on Greenhouse Microclimates and Thermal Performance

This study compared and analyzed changes in the microclimate and thermal environment inside single-span greenhouses covered with a single layer of plastic film, polycarbonate (PC), and glass. The results of the experiment show that the PC-covered greenhouse was the most favorable for managing the nighttime heating effect during the cold season. However, the glass-covered greenhouse was found to be the most favorable for managing the cooling effect during the hot season. Although the plastic-covered greenhouse was inexpensive and easy to install, the air temperature inside varied significantly, and it was difficult to control its indoor environment. The thermal load leveling values showed that the PC-covered greenhouse had the lowest variation, confirming its superiority in terms of environmental control and energy savings. In terms of the overall heat transfer, heat was generally transferred from the interior to the exterior of the greenhouses. In the plastic-covered greenhouse, however, heat was transferred in the opposite direction at night due to the influence of radiant cooling. The occurrence of the minimum and maximum heat transfer values had a tendency similar to that of the occurrence of the minimum and maximum air temperatures inside the greenhouses.

Thermographic Behavior of the Cornea During Treatment With Two Excimer Laser Platforms.

PurposeTo investigate the temperature of the cornea during treatment with the excimer laser using two platforms, Nidek EC-5000 and Schwind Amaris 750S.MethodsA prospective case series study was conducted in a reference center in Mexico City including patients aged 18 years or older who had any type of ametropia and underwent excimer laser refractive surgery. The patients had measurements of corneal temperature with an infrared camera before, during, and after ablation treatment. Results of prior corneal surface temperature, temperatures during excimer laser surgery, and delta temperature for each platform were analyzed and compared.ResultsA total of 107 eyes were analyzed. Mean baseline temperature was 32.7 ± 1.03°C for the Nidek group and 31.5 ± 1.4°C for the Amaris group. Mean maximum temperature was 39.94 ± 1.3°C for the Nidek group and 35.6 ± 1.5 °C for the Amaris group. Delta temperature was higher in the Nidek group than in the Amaris group. There were statistically significant associations between treated micrometers, treated diopters, and time in the Nidek group and no such associations in the Amaris group.ConclusionsThe different excimer laser devices used and the variety in the optical design, together with different software ablation algorithms, resulted in different levels of thermal loading; peak temperature rose in all measurements. Eyes treated with Nidek reached temperatures that doubled those found with Amaris.Translational RelevanceThe correlation between Delta of temperature with defocus, depth, and treatment time is different regarding excimer laser generation.

Advanced methods for organizing thermal protection of hypersonic aircrafts

On the basis of analytical and experimental data, this paper presents possible levels of thermal loading of reusable hypersonic aircrafts. Methods for ensuring the thermal regime of such aircrafts using various passive and active thermal protection technologies are considered. The conducted analysis of the scientific and technical background in terms of the practical implementation of these technologies allowed the authors to draw the conclusion about the relevance and expediency of creating an integrated thermal protection system for reusable high-speed aircrafts.

Random impact FEM simulation of irregularly-shaped media for parametric study of vibratory surface enhancement

Aerospace materials experience high levels of mechanical and thermal loading, high/low cycle fatigue, and damage from foreign objects during service, which can lead to premature retirement. Mechanical surface treatments of metallic components, for example, fan blades and blisks, are proven to improve fatigue life, improve wear resistance and avoid stress corrosion by introducing work hardening, compressive residual stresses of sub-surface, and surface finishing. Vibropeening can enhance aerospace materials’ fatigue life involving the kinetic agitation of hardened steel media in a vibratory finishing machine that induces compressive stresses into the component sub-layers while keeping a finished surface. Spherical steel balls are the most widely used shape among steel-based media and have been explored for decades. However, they are not always versatile, which cannot access deep grooves, sharp corners, and intricate profiles. Steel ballcones or satellites, when mixed with round steel balls and other steel media (diagonals, pins, eclipses, cones), works very well in such areas that ball-shaped media are unable to reach. However, a methodology of study the effect of irregularly-shaped media in surface enhancement processes has not been established. This paper proposes a finite element-based model to present a methodology for the parametric study of vibratory surface enhancement with irregularly-shaped media and investigates residual stress profiles within a treated area of an Inconel component. The methodology is discussed in detail, which involves a stochastic simulation of orientation, impact force, and impact location. The contrasting effects of a high aspect ratio, or an edge contact, as opposed to rounded and oblique contacts are demonstrated, with further analysis on the superposition of these effects. Finally, the simulation results are compared with actual residual stress measurements and was found to have a max percent difference of 34% up to 20 [Formula: see text]m below the media surface.

Effect of movable insulation on performance of the Building integrated Semi-transparent Photovoltaic Thermal (BiSPVT) system for harsh cold climatic conditions: a case study

ABSTRACT Semi-transparent photovoltaic modules are integrated with the building’s rooftop with the provision of movable insulation during off-sunshine hours to reduce the heat losses from room to the ambient. A significant rise in room air temperature of about 6°C at desired hours for cold climatic conditions of Srinagar, India was noted in this study. Also, a metallic drum filled with water has been placed inside the room to reduce the room temperature fluctuations, thus reducing the thermal load leveling. The study is also focused to analyse the simultaneous impact of natural ventilation, direct gain and daylight savings through the south-facing window, thus leading to daylight savings and reducing the dependency on artificial modes of illumination. The effect of water mass and packing factor has also been studied on electrical energy and daylight savings. Analytical expressions for water, metallic drum/tank, room, floor and solar cell temperatures have been derived.

Influences of a multi-cavity tip on the blade tip and the over tip casing aerothermal performance in a high pressure turbine cascade

In modern gas turbine, the over tip leakage flow is inevitably generated in the tip gap of the first stage turbine blade due to the freestanding airfoil. In order to obtain a higher thermal efficiency, the turbine inlet temperature is gradually increased. Therefore, the over tip leakage flow induces significant aerodynamic losses and the blade tip and the over tip casing endure high level of thermal load. In the pursuit of a high-performance turbine engine, cavity tips are widely implemented in the turbine blade to reduce the over tip leakage flow and the thermal load on the blade tip and over tip casing. In the current study, the influences of the multi-cavity squealer tip on the blade tip and the over tip casing aerothermal performance were numerically investigated. Three-dimensional (3D) Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and standard k-ω turbulence model were solved to conduct the simulations. The results indicate that the flat tip attains the largest thermal load on the blade tip, over-tip casing and induces the largest total pressure loss. However, the case with a single tip cavity (1CST) achieves the smallest total pressure loss and heat transfer coefficient on the over-tip casing, which are 7.6% and 19.6% lower than the flat tip, respectively. The case with a multi-cavity tip obtains a decreasing heat transfer coefficient on the blade tip. The case with five tip cavities (5CST) achieves the smallest heat transfer coefficient on the blade tip among all simulated cases, which is decreased by 17.5% relative to the flat tip.

Molecular structure and melting: implications for phase change materials

Phase change materials (PCMs) offer a promising technology for thermal energy storage, load leveling, and peak shifting applications. A desirable PCM has a melting temperature within the temperature boundaries of its application and a high change in enthalpy on melting. Knowledge of the relationships between these thermodynamic properties and molecular structure would advance informed selection of PCM candidates for a given application. In the present investigation, the relationship between structure (length of alkyl chains) and melting properties has been investigated for isomeric esters, showing that esters containing longer individual alkyl chains have higher melting temperatures and higher enthalpy changes on melting. The melting entropy changes, however, are relatively independent of the alkyl chain distribution.

Effects of the cooling configurations layout near the first-stage vane leading edge on the endwall cooling and phantom cooling of the vane suction side surface

Increasing the turbine inlet temperature can enhance the thermal efficiency of a gas turbine. Therefore, modern gas turbines operate at a relatively high level of temperature and endure heavy thermal load. It is important to ensure the modern gas turbine works at a high performance and safe condition. Advanced cooling techniques are implemented in the gas turbine system. In the current study, effects of the cooling configurations layout near the first-stage vane leading edge on the endwall cooling and phantom cooling of the vane suction side surface were numerically investigated. Three-dimensional (3D) Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations combined with the shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model were solved to perform the simulations on basis of validation by comparing the experimental data and computational results. The results indicate that the layout of the cooling configurations has a significant influence on the endwall cooling, but a limited effect on the phantom cooling of the suction side surface and the aerodynamic performance. For each type, the endwall cooling and phantom cooling of the suction side surface are enhanced with the increase of the blowing ratio (M) of the leading edge coolant injection. Meanwhile, the thermodynamic loss is gradually enhanced. Overall, the Type B which has a partly blocked upstream slot achieves the best performance in terms of the coolant mass flowrate, endwall cooling, phantom cooling performance of the suction side surface and the aerodynamic performance at M=1.0.

A novel approach towards investigating the performance of different PVT configurations integrated on test cells: An experimental study

This study elaborates the theoretical and experimental analysis for the effectiveness of different photovoltaic thermal (PVT) configurations along with their building implications. An experiment was performed on especially designed four identical prototype test cells emphasise the building integration photovoltaic thermal (BiPVT) systems. A comparative analysis of four different possible PVT configurations integrated on identical test cells namely; Case 1: Glass-to-glass PV with duct integrated on a test cell, Case 2: Glass-to -glass PV without duct integrated on a test cell, Case 3: Glass to tedlar PV with duct integrated on a test cell and Case 4: Glass to tedlar PV without duct integrated on a test cell was carried out. Analytical model of the electrical and thermal performance for different cases was developed and experimentally validated in outdoor conditions. On the basis of the correlation coefficient (r) and root mean square percent deviation (e), a fair agreement between theoretically calculated and experimentally observed values is achieved. The glass to glass PV module gives better both electrical and thermal performance with hourly average ηm 12.65% and 12.70% for case 1 and 2 respectively. Similarly, the hourly average ηith was observed 32.77% and 25.44% for case 1 and 2 respectively. Further, thermal load levelling with varying packing factor, mass flow rate of air through the PV integrated duct, absorptivity (degradation effect) and transmittivity (dusting effect) are also discussed.