Effect of flow distribution on the photovoltaic performance of a building integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) collector

Abstract The phenomenon of non-uniform flow distribution and its influence on thermal performance within a traditional solar thermal collector is well known. Its effect on the photovoltaic conversion of a hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) collector however has received little attention. In this study an investigation has been carried out to determine what effect flow distribution will have on the photovoltaic yield of a BIPV/T collector of various size. A three step numerical analysis was conducted to model flow distribution, temperature variation, and photovoltaic yield for a PV/T collector of various design (manifold sizes), geometric shape (aspect ratio), and operating characteristics (mass flow rate and flow direction in manifolds) in order to vary flow uniformity within the collector. The results revealed that flow distribution within the collector will have a significant influence on the photovoltaic performance of a hybrid PV/T collector. For the scenario where flow distribution was most uniform, photovoltaic performance was improved by over 9% in comparison to a traditional photovoltaic (PV) collector operating under the same conditions. For poor flow however, performance was only improved by approximately 2%. Parameters found to influence flow distribution include the manifold to riser pipe ratio where a ratio of 4:1 was found to be ideal and that increasing to a 6:1 ratio offered negligible improvement. Additionally it was found that array geometry (characterised by its aspect ratio in this study) plays an important role on both flow distribution and photovoltaic yield. This study has identified that the optimal mass flow rate is dependent on the shape or aspect ratio of the array.

[1]  J. Whitelaw,et al.  Convective heat and mass transfer , 1966 .

[2]  Gaston H. Gonnet,et al.  On the LambertW function , 1996, Adv. Comput. Math..

[3]  X. A. Wang,et al.  Analysis and performance of flat-plate solar collector arrays , 1990 .

[4]  Seddik Bacha,et al.  Forecasting photovoltaic array power production subject to mismatch losses , 2010 .

[5]  Y. Poissant,et al.  Experimental and numerical results for a building-integrated photovoltaics test facility , 2005, Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005..

[6]  Rachid Chenni,et al.  A detailed modeling method for photovoltaic cells , 2007 .

[7]  M. Green.  Solar Cells : Operating Principles, Technology and System Applications , 1981 .

[8]  Dionisio Ramirez,et al.  Simple estimation of PV modules loss resistances for low error modelling , 2010 .

[9]  Tin-Tai Chow,et al.  A Review on Photovoltaic/Thermal Hybrid Solar Technology , 2010, Renewable Energy.

[10]  Rattanasuda Naewngerndee,et al.  Finite element method for computational fluid dynamics to design photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system configuration , 2011 .

[11]  K. Emery,et al.  Temperature dependence of photovoltaic cells, modules and systems , 1996, Conference Record of the Twenty Fifth IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference - 1996.

[12]  Noam Lior,et al.  Flow distribution in manifolded solar collectors with negligible buoyancy effects , 1994 .

[13]  V. Gnielinski.  New equations for heat and mass transfer in turbulent pipe and channel flow , 1976 .

[14]  E. Radziemska,et al.  Thermally affected parameters of the current–voltage characteristics of silicon photocell , 2002 .

[15]  Marcelo Gradella Villalva,et al.  Comprehensive Approach to Modeling and Simulation of Photovoltaic Arrays , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[16]  M. Vitelli,et al.  Analytical model of mismatched photovoltaic fields by means of Lambert W-function , 2007 .

[17]  A. Kapoor,et al.  Exact analytical solutions of the parameters of real solar cells using Lambert W-function , 2004 .

[18]  Frank P. Incropera,et al.  Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer , 1981 .

[19]  A. Onton,et al.  Temperature dependence of the band gap of silicon , 1974 .

[20]  Mustafa İlkan,et al.  An experimental study on energy generation with a photovoltaic (PV)-solar thermal hybrid system , 2008 .

[21]  Y. Tripanagnostopoulos,et al.  Hybrid photovoltaic/thermal solar systems , 2002 .

[22]  F. Ghani,et al.  Numerical determination of parasitic resistances of a solar cell using the Lambert W-function , 2011 .

[23]  Ccm Camilo Rindt,et al.  Detailed analysis of the energy yield of systems with covered sheet-and-tube PVT collectors , 2010 .

[24]  J. P. Chiou,et al.  The effect of nonuniform fluid flow distribution on the thermal performance of solar collector , 1981 .

[25]  Zoltan J. Kiss,et al.  A hybrid amorphous silicon photovoltaic and thermal solar collector , 1986 .

[26]  Graham L. Morrison,et al.  Performance of a building integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPVT) solar collector , 2009 .

[27]  Ha Herbert Zondag,et al.  The thermal and electrical yield of a PV-thermal collector , 2002 .

[28]  P. Rappaport,et al.  Effect of Temperature on Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conversion , 1960 .

[29]  E. Skoplaki,et al.  ON THE TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULE ELECTRICAL PERFORMANCE: A REVIEW OF EFFICIENCY/ POWER CORRELATIONS , 2009 .

[30]  R. Santbergen,et al.  Modeling the thermal absorption factor of photovoltaic/thermal combi-panels , 2006 .

[31]  Ha Herbert Zondag,et al.  The yield of different combined PV-thermal collector designs , 2003 .

[32]  W. Beckman,et al.  Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes , 1985 .

[33]  William A. Beckman,et al.  Improvement and validation of a model for photovoltaic array performance , 2006 .

[34]  Deo Prasad,et al.  Modelling of a photovoltaic heat recovery system and its role in a design decision support tool for building professionals , 2002 .

[35]  H. Zondag,et al.  PV Thermal systems: PV panels supplying renewable electricity and heat , 2004 .

[36]  V. Quaschning,et al.  Numerical simulation of current-voltage characteristics of photovoltaic systems with shaded solar cells , 1996 .