Open Access

ARTICLE

An Experimental Study on the Performance of a Hybrid Photovoltaic/Thermal Solar System

Xin Xu^1,*, Lian Zhang^1,2,*

1 School of Energy Engineering, Tianjin Sino-German University of Applied Sciences, Tianjin, 300350, China
2 Tianjin Sino-German and Cambodia Intelligent Motion Device and Communication Technology Promotion Center, Tianjin “The Belt and Road” Joint Laboratory, Tianjin, 300350, China

* Corresponding Authors: Xin Xu. Email: ; Lian Zhang. Email:

Energy Engineering 2022, 119(6), 2319-2345. https://doi.org/10.32604/ee.2022.022457

Received 10 March 2022; Accepted 24 May 2022; Issue published 14 September 2022

Abstract

Considered as the widespread renewable energy, solar energy is used to produce the electricity and heat for carbon peaking and carbon neutralization. However, the photo-electric conversion efficiency will decrease with the increase of cells temperature. To solve this problem, a water-type hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar system has been designed and tested in Hong Kong. The outdoor experiment proceeded all days in 6 months with three different operating modes. The data of selected 33 days were used to analyze the performance of the system. The results showed that the thermal efficiencies were 33.6%, 52%, and 48.3% at zero reduced temperature, corresponding to three modes. Besides, the overall efficiencies were 43.2%, 60.9%, and 55.2% accordingly, which are higher than those of the conventional flat-plate solar collector. The average water temperature in the storage tank could reach 39.9°C, and the system could produce 0.07 kWh electric power after one-day operation, when the collector with 96 kg/m2 M/Ac installed vertically combining with external wall for each family. It is realizable to utilize the developed building integrated water-type photovoltaic/thermal (BIPVT) solar system for residentialintensive high-rise buildings in Hong Kong, satisfying the needs of hot water, and eventually reducing energy consumption of the buildings.

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Keywords

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