Experimental comparison of photovoltaic (PV) and photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) collectors

Nowadays, it is widely used to generate electricity from solar energy by utilizing heat energy and photovoltaic conversion principle. Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels can turn a limited part of the sunlight falling on them into electrical energy. Photovoltaic thermal (PV-T) systems are used to remove and evaluate the heat load generated by solar radiation that can not be converted to electricity in photovoltaic panels. In this study; the performances of PV and PV-T collectors with identical powers in the same environmental conditions were compared experimentally using the experimental setup. Water was used as working fluid in the PV-T collector. The performances of the collectors were evaluated according to different parameters such as radiation, outside air temperature, water inlet temperature and water flow. The results obtained from the experiments show that the PV-T collector has a higher electrical and thermal efficiency than the PV collector in climate conditions of Adana and it was shown that solar radiation has a significant effect on the performance of the collectors.