Energy and Exergy Evaluation of Multi-channel Photovoltaic/Thermal Hybrid System: Simulation and Experiment

In this research, a pilot study and analysis of an innovative multi-channel photovoltaic/thermal (MCPV/T) system in a geographic location (35° 44 35 N, 50° 57 25 E) has been carried out. This system consists of integrating a photovoltaic panel and two PV/T heat-sink converters. The total electrical, exergy and energy efficiencies of the system at air flow rate of 0.005 kg/s and radiation intensity of 926 w/m2 were 9.73%, 10.72%, and 47.24%, respectively. An air flow rate of 0.011 kg/s and the radiation intensity of 927 w/m2 were also achieved to be  9.35%, 10.40% and 65.10%, respectively. Based on simulation results considering experiments validations, as the air flow rate increases, the overall energy efficiency increases to the maximal amount of 80%. However, the maximum exergy efficiency value has a local optimal point of 13.46% at a fluid flow rate of 0.024 kg/s. Similarly, with increasing channel heights, the total energy efficiency decreased to 70%, and the maximum exergy efficiency has a local optimal point of 13.64% at channel height of 0.011 m. As an overall achievement, the system has higher energy quality (exergy efficiency) in laminar flow regime and has higher energy efficiency under turbulent flow conditions.

Keywords:

Computational Modeling , Exergy and Energy Analysis , Multichannel System , Laminar and Turbulent Flows , Photovoltaic/ Thermal