Hybrid photovoltaic/thermal collector design

A great ratio of the Solar radiaton absorbed by a Photovoltaic Module could not be converted into electrical energy and the excess energy is rejected as heat energy. This waste heat increases the PV cell temperature and therefore decreases the electrical conversion efficiency. PV cell temperature can be decreased by removing the heat by a fluid circulation. This helps to maximise the electrical conversion efficiency. Photovoltaic-Thermal Collectors (PV/T), working with this principle, saves on the area for installation and due to the cogeneration, increases the total solar energy efficiency. In this thesis, a long-term average climate data obtained from sensors located in Antalya province center is used to calculate the performance of a PV/T collector with selected parameters. In addition to this performance analysis, a PV module with the same PV cell parameters is used as an input to calculate the cell electrical energy conversion efficency. Results show that, comparing these 2 systems, due to the cooling effect of the circulated fluid, cell temperatures of PV/T is lower than a PV, and therefore the annual electrical yield of PV/T is higher than PV. Later, the collector tilt angle is variated to analyse the Solar radiation on the sloped surface in various ways, and sensitivity analyses have been made. An other variable, the flow rate, is altered to analyse the changes in the energy productions under the condition of a number of selected days of the year. The last series of calculations for a cost analysis has been made. In an energy consuming facility, such as a house, the performance of an array of 3 PV/T modules is calculated and the electrical and thermal performances of PV/ is compared with the utility electric cost and the cost of thermal energy produced by an electrical water heater. Taking the changes in some macro-economical datas into account, the escalation rate of the utility electric cost and the interest rate are varied for a sensitivity analysis, as well.