Experimental Study of Electrical and Thermal Efficiencies of a Photovoltaic Thermal (PVT) Hybrid Solar Water Collector with and Without Glass Cover

Abstract

Investigating the thermal and electrical gains and efficiencies influence the designed photovoltaic thermal hybrid collector (PVT) under different weather conditions. The designed system was manufactured by attaching a fabricated cooling system made of serpentine tubes to a single PV panel and connecting it to an automatic controlling system for measuring, monitoring, and simultaneously collecting the required data. A removable glass cover had been used to study the effects of glazed and unglazed PVT panel situations. The research was conducted in February (winter) and July (summer), and March for daily solar radiation effects on efficiencies. The results indicated that electrical and thermal gains increased by the increase in solar radiation. The average rise in PVT water collectors' thermal energy efficiency with a glass cover for three cases was 5% compared with the unglazed PVT water collector. While the maximum total efficiencies of 79 % and 69.5 % for glazed and unglazed collectors were recorded under maximum solar radiation of 1100 W/m² and maximum water flow rate in the tubes system for July. The recorded result seemed promising and significant, indicating that the manufactured system is useful for adjusting PVT thermal and electrical efficiencies for cold and hot weather conditions.