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Performance assessment of PVT-air collector with V-groove absorber: A theoretical and experimental analysis

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Abstract

In this paper, the performance of a PVT (photovoltaic thermal) air collector with V-groove absorber in the air channel is theoretically and experimentally examined under different climate conditions of Ghaziabad city, India, in summer, June 2019. A low power brushless DC fan is fixed at the input of the air-channel to ensure the circulation of air through the V-groove. The energy balance equation is developed with the matrix-inversion method to estimate the PV (photovoltaic) cell and air output temperatures. The theoretical results obtained using mathematical modeling has been compared with that of the real-time experimental results. The electrical, thermal, and overall efficiencies for the theoretical and experimental studies are found in the range of 10.39–10.26%, 41.78–41.57%, and 52.17–51.81%, respectively. It has been observed that the theoretical results are coherent with experimental results for the proposed model achieving an accuracy of 98.98%, 99.43%, and 99.31% for electrical, thermal, and overall efficiencies, respectively.

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Abbreviations

A c :

Collector area (m2)

H t :

Collector top loss coefficient (W/m2 oC)

H b :

Collector back loss coefficient (W/m2 oC)

T c :

Cell temperature (oC)

d :

Channel depth (m)

D c :

Equivalence diameter of channel (m)

Ex in :

Exergy input

Ex out :

Exergy output

T f :

Fluid Temperature (oC)

m :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

A m :

Module area (m2)

N u :

Nusselt number

P r :

Prandtl number

Re :

Reynolds number

I :

Solar radiation (W/m2)

C f :

Specific heat (J/kg oC)

T in :

Temperature at the channel inlet (oC)

T out :

Temperature at the channel output (oC)

T sun :

Temperature of the sun (oC)

k :

Thermal conductivity (W/m oC)

Q t :

Usable heat (W)

W :

Width of the channel (m)

PV:

Photovoltaic

PVT:

Photovoltaic Thermal

HTC:

Heat transfer coefficients

α:

Absorption coefficient

ρ :

Air density (kg/m3)

ϵ p :

Emissivity of PV

ɳ ele :

Electrical efficiency,%

ɳ Ex :

Exergy efficiency, %

ɳ overall :

Overall efficiency, %

σ :

Stefan Boltzman constant

β 0 :

Temperature coefficient of efficiency

µ :

Viscosity (kg/ms)

ɳ th :

Thermal efficiency, %

τ :

Transmission coefficient

a :

ambient

b :

backplate

f :

fluid

p :

photovoltaic

r :

radiative

s :

sky

w :

wind

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India

    Sourav Diwania, Anwar S. Siddiqui & Rajeev Kumar

  2. School of Engineering and Technology, IGNOU, New Delhi, India

    Sanjay Agrawal

  3. Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Krishna Institute of Engineering and Technology, Ghaziabad, India

    Rajeev Kumar

Authors
  1. Sourav Diwania
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  2. Anwar S. Siddiqui
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  3. Sanjay Agrawal
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  4. Rajeev Kumar
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Correspondence to Rajeev Kumar.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Diwania, S., Siddiqui, A.S., Agrawal, S. et al. Performance assessment of PVT-air collector with V-groove absorber: A theoretical and experimental analysis. Heat Mass Transfer 57, 665–679 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-020-02980-0

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