Report on Thermal Solar Hybrid System

Introduction:
A photovoltaic/thermal hybrid solar system is a combination of photovoltaic and solar thermal system
which produce both electricity and heat from an integrated system. When the energy of incident light is
higher than the band gap energy of the semiconductor material, a surplus photon energy is transferred into
heat rather than electrical energy. Consequently, this heat adversely affects solar cell performance. It will
increase the dark current of the solar cell. In other words, when the dark current is higher a lower open
circuit voltage will reduce fill factor and solar cell efficiency. To maximize the electrical output, the PV
module must be at lower operating temperature under certain condition of incoming solar radiation
intensity, ambient air temperature and wind speed. This can be achieved by using the heat removing fluid
in the lower possible temperature of it at the system input, with a proper flow rate for a low fluid
temperature rise in the system.
The dissipation power (Thermal power) of the solar cell under high concentrated incident light can be
calculated using the following equation [2]:

Pcell [ P A cell ][100 ]

Where Pcell is the solar cells power dissipation; Pin is the direct solar radiation;
concentration ratio of the lens;

is the optical

is the theoretical efficiency of the solar cell, Acell is the solar cell

area.

Hybrid system Design consideration and modeling:

To design a PVT system we have to consider those things [1]
1. Collector type
2. Thermal to electrical yield ratio
3. Solar fraction for optimizing the overall benefits.
These all have determining effects on system mode, operating condition, temperature and efficiency. The
thermal and electrical efficiency of a PVT collector are respectively given by (1) and (2)

t =

mC (T out T )
..(1)
GA

e =

V mpp I mpp
(2)
GA

Where m and C are the mass flow rate and specific heat of coolant. A is the area of collector aperture, Tin
and Tout are the coolant temperature of inlet and outlet respectively. G the incident solar irradiance

normal to surface, Vmpp and Impp are the voltage and electric current at maximum power point
operation. The electric efficiency is related to cell efficiency by the ratio of area given by equation (3).

e =

A cell cell
= cell .(3)
A

The thermal efficiency is conventionally shown as a function of the reduced temperature, which is defined
as.

T=

T T a T
=
.(4)
G
G

Here Ta is the ambient temperature and

T =T T a

To evaluate the system performance some researcher uses the concept of total system efficiency o, which
is the direct sum of thermal and electric efficiency, i.e.

o =e + t ( 5 )
Other researcher consider electric energy is higher grade since it is converted from thermal energy. The
energy saving efficiency then introduced as

saving =

Here

e
power

+t ..(6)

power is the electric power generation efficiency of a conventional power plant.

As a complementary approach, the exergy analysis is often performed. Exergy represent the maximum
quantity of work that can be produced in some given environment. By definition, exergetic efficiency is
the rate ratio of total exergy output to total exergy input. In a PVT system, the exergetic efficiency within
the time period t1 and t2 can be expressed as
t2

A Ex dt= t + pv .. ( 7 )
t1

t2

( A Ext + A cell Ex pv ) dt

pvt = t 1

Here

is the exergetic thermal efficiency,

pv is the exergetic solar efficiency,

Ex is the

exergity input of the solar radiation.

In analogy to the economical evaluation, two environmental cost-benefit parameters, the energy payback
time (EPBT) and greenhouse gas payback time (GPBT), can be used to evaluate the time period after

which the real environment benefit starts. EPBT is refer to the ratio of embodied energy to annual energy
output.

EPBT =

pvt + bos mtl ..(8)

E pv + Et + E ac

Here,

pvt

bos , mtl

are embedded energy of PVT, balance and replaced building material

respectively. Epv, Et, Eac are the annual useful electricity output, annual useful heat gain and annual
electricity saving respectively.

GPBT =

Here

Similarly in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission

pvt+ bosmtl
..(9)
Z pv + Zt+ Z ac

stands for embodied GHG and Z the reduction of annual GHG emission from the local power

plant owing to BiPVT (building integration installation) operation.

PV/T water collector:

Water based PV/T modules, possess absorbers in conjunction with quantity of PV cells that are parallel or
series connected and attached to serpentine or series of parallel tubes underneath in which water is forced
to flow through. If the water temperature is kept lower, PV cells will be cooled off which leads to
enhanced electrical conversion efficiencies while the water temperature will rise as a result of absorbing
heat from the PV cell layer. This heated water can be exploited for various applications including heating,
cooling or food drying etc. In comparison to air based PV/T systems, the water based systems are able to
achieve enhanced efficiencies due to higher thermal mass of water; therefore, both thermal and electrical
efficiencies will be improved [5].

Heat pipe based PV/T collector:

Heat pipes are appraised as efficient heat transfer mechanisms that integrate the principles of both thermal
conductivity and phase transition. A conventional heat pipe is formed of three sections as evaporation
section (evaporator), adiabatic section and condensing section (condenser) and the system provides such
an ideal solution for heat removal and transmission. In the structure, there is a photovoltaic layer and a
flat plate heat pipe which contains a great number of micro-channel arrays acting as the evaporation
section of the heat pipes. The other end of the heat pipe is the condensation part in which heat is released
to the flowing refrigerant and that working medium is condensed due to the heat dissipation. The flat plate
structure appears to be more efficient as extremely good thermal contact between PV cell layer and heat
extraction component is provided. This results in advanced solar conversion efficiency and primitive
thermal resistance. Consequently, PV cell performance could be enhanced by 1530% in comparison to
the sole PV modules as long as PV cell layer temperature was maintained around 4050 1C. Overall solar
conversion efficiency was noted as around 40% [6, 7].

Concentrating PV/T collector:

Co-generation of electricity and heat in a PV/T system, using the similar structural and concentration
components, boosts the overall efficiency of the system. It also provides a better finance for the electricity
conversion in comparison to power generation in a conventional PV system. It is satisfied that the
produced heat meets a demand and substitutes thermal energy that would otherwise be purchased or
generated in a separate system [8]. Currently, the application of concentrating PV/T systems is limited in
scale and mainly the systems consist of components in considerable size; solar power towers, parabolic
trough concentrators, parabolic dish concentrators and large Fresnel concentrators with two-axis tracking
systems. Building integrated concentrating PV/T systems (BICPV/T) can be installed either on the
building faade or rooftop. Single axis tracking designs are more suitable for building integration [9].

Solar thermal air collector:

The solar air collectors are widely applied in many commercial applications such as hot air supply to
shopping malls, agricultural barns and industrial drying etc. They are usually low cost, with no freezing
and high pressure problems. However, one of the main disadvantages of solar thermal air collectors is
their relatively low efficiency due to the low density, volumetric heat capacity and thermal conductivity of
air causing to low coefficients of convective heat transfer from solar energy to the air. In order to
compensate this drawback, air needs to be encapsulated in larger collector areas which puts cost and roof
size problem in front [10].

Study on some previous experiment:

In this section some PV/T system and there experimental has been discussed. A PV/T system is mainly
based on pc-Si model, a-Si model and for the heat extraction water, air, gel, booster defuse reflector and
both are used. Table 1, figure 1 and figure 10 is the represent of some experimental result of thermal and
electrical efficiency.
Table1: steady state thermal efficiency of all tested hybrid PV/T system. [4]
PV/T system
PC-PV/WATER
A-PV/WATER
PC- PV/AIR
A-PV/AIR
PV/WATER

Thermal efficiency

11.99T
th =0.55
G
th =0.60

12.02T
G

th =0.38

9.33T
G

th =0.46

10.69T
G

th =0.55

11.99T
G

th =0.71

9.04T
G

th =0.66

11.89T
G

PV/WATER+GL
PV/WATER+REF
PV/WATER+GL+REF
PV/AIR
PV/AIR+GL

PV/AIR+REF
PV/AIR+GL+REF

th =0.80

9.03T
G

th =0.38

9.33T
G

th =0. .59

7.88T
G

th =0.60

12.68T
G

th =0.75

8.89T
G

Figure 1: Electrical efficiency results of systems pc-PV/WATER, a-PV/WATER, pc-PV/AIR

and a-PV/AIR, for the el corresponding DT/G values [4]

Figure 2: Electrical efficiency results of systems PV/WATER, PV/WATER1GL, PV/WATER1REF and

PV/WATER1GL1 REF, for the corresponding DT/G values. [4]

Conclusion:
This report is the summery of some literature review of solar thermal hybrid model. Later it will be
interacted (solar thermal hybrid model) with our developed model.

References:
[1] T.T. Chow, A review on photovoltaic/thermal hybrid solar technology: Applied Energy 87 (2010)
365379.
[2]Tsung-lin Chou, Zun-Hao Shih, Hwen-Fen Hong, Cheng-nan Han and Kau-Ning Chiang, Thermal
performance assessment and validation of high concentration photovoltaic solar4 cell module: IEEE
transaction on component, packaging and manufacturing technology. Vol. 2,No 4. P. 578-586.
[3]dabid N Harries, Marks paskevicius, Drew A Sheppard, Tobias Edward Cameron price, and Craig E.
Buckley. Concentrating Solar Thermal heat storage Using Metal Hydrides.: Vol. 100, no. 2, Proceeding of
the IEEE. P.539-549.
[4] Tripanagnostopoulos Y, Nousia Th, Souliotis M, Yianoulis P. Hybrid photovoltaic/thermal solar
systems. Solar Energy,2002;72(3):21734.
[5] Zhang Xingxing, et al. Review of R&D progress and practical application of the solar
photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) technologies. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2012; 16:599617.
[6] Quan, Z., et al. The experiment research for solar PV/T system based on flatplate heat pipes. In:
Preceding the 17th Chinese national HVAC&R academic conference; 2010.

[7] Tang, Xiao; Quan, Zhen Hua; Zhao, Yao Hua. Experimental Investigation of Solar Panel Cooling by a
Novel Micro Heat Pipe Array. In: Proceedings of IEEE power and energy engineering conference
(APPEEC), 2010 AsiaPacific; 2010. p. 14.
[8] Brogren, Maria; Karlsson, Bjorn. Low-concentrating water-cooled PVthermal hybrid systems for high
latitudes. In: Proceedings of IEEE photovoltaic specialists conference, 2002. Conference Record of the
Twenty-Ninth IEEE; 2002. p. 173336.
[9] Bernardo Lus Ricardo, et al. Performance evaluation of low concentrating photovoltaic/thermal
systems: a case study from Sweden. Sol Energy 2011; 85:1499510
[10] Ucar A, Inalli M. Thermal and exergy analysis of solar air collectors with passive augmentation
techniques. Int Commun Heat Mass Transf 2006; 33:128190