Mathematical Modelling and Experimental Validation of Solar Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) Hybrid Air Collector System

In this paper, a steady state one-dimensional mathematical model was developed to analyze the electrical and thermal performance of solar photovoltaic thermal air collector. Comprehensive layer-by-layer mathematical expressions are developed for the temperatures of glass, EVA, PV cell, tedlar of the module, flowing air in the duct, back insulation and useful electrical and thermal energy extraction from solar photovoltaic thermal air collector. An improved correlation is used for calculating the various temperatures, heat transfer coefficients and electrical parameters. Simulated mathematical model results have been compared with the experimental results, and it can be observed a good agreement. Concisely, it is found that the solar photovoltaic thermal system of area 1.5x0.66 m(2) delivers a Maximum electrical and thermal efficiency of 14.66% at 16 hr and 26.11% at 12 hr respectively.