The experimental study of trough concentrating solar photovoltaic/thermal system

The peformance testing experiment of crystalline silicon cell array and GaAs cell array have been carried out on the 2 m2 trough concentrating photovoltaic/thermal system independently. Experimental results showed that performance of GaAs cell array is better than that of crystalline silicon cell array. The 10 m2 trough concentrating solar photovoltaic/thermal system which adopt GaAs cell array selected from prior experimental result of excellent performance in conditions of solar concentrating radiation has been established. The experimental results showed that photoelectric efficiency of GaAs cell array is 23.21%, the electric efficiency and thermal efficiency of this system are 9.88% and 49.84%, respectively at the 10 m2 trough concentrating system. The exergy of the system is 13.48%, which is 158% higher than that of evacuated tube heated by trough concentrating and is 16% higher than flat-plate photovoltaic system. The cost of generate electricity with trough concentrating photovoltaic/thermal system adopted super cell array can catch that of standard flat-plate photovoltaic station, in addition, the photovoltaic/thermal system can offer 4838.38 MJ heat energy to user every year.