Theoretical comparison of thermal and electrical performance of different models of sheet and tube type solar photovoltaic - thermal water collector

This paper aims to compare the electrical and thermal performance of different designs of hybrid photovoltaic-thermal collectors. The main advantage of photovoltaic-thermal collectors in comparison to common photovoltaic modules is decreased cell temperature and an associated increase in their electrical efficiency. In addition, the combination of photovoltaic module and solar thermal collector makes it possible to produce both heat and electricity in a single device and reduces the area required for collector and module installation. In this research, the electrical and thermal efficiency of different designs of photovoltaic-thermal collectors is investigated. The heat transfer fluid considered for heat dissipation is water. A theoretical analysis of eight types of different photovoltaic-thermal collectors, including sheet and tube with spiral (circular cross-section) and parallel tube (circular, square and rectangular cross-sections) designs were implemented based on thermal modeling. These include collectors with different flow paths and different cross-section geometries. According to the results, sheet and tube design with circular cross-section has minimum and sheet and tube design with rectangular cross-section has maximum thermal and total efficiency. Also, glass cover reduces the electrical efficiency and increases the thermal efficiency and total thermal energy.