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Shahsavar
M. Ameri1
M. Gholampour
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering,
Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran;
Energy and Environmental Engineering
Research Center,
Shahid Bahonar University,
Kerman 7616914111, Iran
Introduction
C 2012 by ASME
Copyright V
glazed PV=T systems for water-heating improved the thermal efficiency up to about 30%, but reduced the electrical efficiency by
about 16%. Chow [16] presented an explicit dynamic model of a
single-glazed sheet-and-tube water-heating PV=T collector,
through which the transient performance (including the instantaneous thermal=electrical gains and efficiencies, as well as the thermal conditions of the subcomponents) could be predicted. Tiwari
et al. [17] validated the theoretical and the experimental results
for photovoltaic (PV) panel integrated with air duct for composite
climate of India and concluded that an overall thermal efficiency
of PV=T system is significantly increased (18%) due to utilization
of thermal energy from PV panel. Tonui and Tripanagnostopoulos
[18,19] investigated the performance of two low cost heat extraction improvement modifications in the channel of a PV=T air system to achieve higher thermal output and PV cooling so as to keep
the electrical efficiency at acceptable level. They suggested the
use of thin flat metal sheet suspended at the middle or finned back
wall of an air channel in the PV=T air configuration. Both experimental and theoretical results showed that the suggested modifications improve the performance of the PV=T air system. Raman
and Tiwari [20,21] studied the annual thermal and exergy efficiency of the PV=T air collector for five different Indian climate
conditions. Results showed that the exergy efficiency is 4045%
lower than the thermal efficiency under strong solar radiation.
Also the double-pass design shows better performance than the
single-pass option. Annual performance of building-integrated
photovoltaic=water-heating system for Hong Kong climates presented by Chow et al. [22] and found that annual thermal and cell
conversion efficiencies are 37.5% and 9.39%, respectively. Shahsavar and Ameri [23] developed a simulation model for a directcoupled PV=T air collector. Their studied system was tested in
natural convection and forced convection (with two, four, and
eight fans operating) and its unsteady results were presented in
with and without glass cover cases. They compared the electrical
performance of the different mode of operations and concluded
that there is an optimum number of fans for achieving maximum
electrical efficiency. Also, results showed that setting glass cover
on photovoltaic panels leads to an increase in thermal efficiency
and decrease in electrical efficiency of the system.
Most of the previous works focused on the energy analysis of
PV=T systems and there are few attempts to analyze the exergy
performance of these systems. Bosanac et al. [24] briefly studied
exergy analysis of PV=T system and reported that maximum
exergy and energy efficiency of PV=T system is about 12% and
60%, respectively. Joshi and Tiwari [25] studied energy and
exergy efficiencies of a hybrid PV=T air collector for the cold climate region of India (in Srinagar). They reported that an instantaneous energy and exergy efficiency of PV=T air system varies
between 5565% and 1215%, respectively. Nayak and Tiwari
[26] presented energy and exergy analysis of PV=T system integrated with a solar greenhouse for New Delhi climatic condition
and reported that the exergy efficiency of the system is 4%. Radziemska [27] analyzed the performance of a hybrid PV=T system
and presented the concept of exergy analysis for evaluation of the
PVT systems, which are very useful tools for the improvement
and cost-effectiveness of the system.
The Kerman province is the largest province of Iran. According
to the Iranian meteorological organization, the annual solar radiation in Kerman is a bout 7625 MJ=m2. Since Kerman has a high
irradiation level, a considerable amount of its energy requirements
may be obtained from solar energy systems such as photovoltaic
panels.
A naturally ventilated PV=T air collector is designed, built, and
tested at a geographic location of Kerman, Iran. In this system, a
thin metal sheet is used to improve heat extraction from the panels
and consequently achieving higher thermal and electrical output.
The metal sheet is suspended at the middle of an air channel in the
studied PV=T air system. The objective of this paper is to study
the energy and the exergy performance of this system for both
glazed and unglazed types.
011014-2 / Vol. 134, FEBRUARY 2012
Experimental Setup
Measurements
velocity of the air flowing through upper (vf 1 ) and lower (vf 2 )
channels
load current (Il ) and load voltage (Vl )
ambient air temperature (Ta ) and temperature of the
PV panels (Tpv ), TMS sheet (TTMS ), back insulation wall (Tb )
and outlet air from upper (Tf 1 ) and lower (Tf 2 ) channels
solar radiation intensity (Ir )
wind speed (vw )
The mass flow rate of flowing air in the upper and lower channels of the studied PV=T system can be calculated from equation
derived by Tonui and Tripanagnostopoulos [19]
m_
!1=3
2gbAch q2 Ach gth Ir L sin h
Cp fL=DH 2bTout
Time
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
13:00
13:30
14:00
14:30
15:00
Ir
Ta
Tpv
Tf1
Tf2
(W=m2) ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C)
650
732
799
848
889
899
899
880
848
794
731
30.8
32.4
32.7
34.7
34.7
35.4
35.8
36.6
37.4
36.4
36.3
48.4
53.2
54.8
59.1
60.5
60.9
61.1
62.5
62.6
60.5
57.5
39.3
40.7
41.4
43.4
43.5
44.4
46.3
46.8
47.5
45.6
45.3
37.7
39.7
40.3
42.1
42.8
43.3
43.9
44.1
44.4
44.5
44.3
Vl
(V)
Il
(A)
vf1
vf2
(m=s) (m=s)
10.84
14.39
14.88
14.85
14.96
14.95
14.83
14.7
14.58
14.38
13.72
2.89
3.51
3.58
3.57
3.59
3.55
3.54
3.46
3.5
3.5
3.4
0.16
0.14
0.18
0.18
0.18
0.23
0.2
0.29
0.29
0.24
0.23
0.08
0.1
0.11
0.1
0.12
0.12
0.1
0.12
0.09
0.12
0.12
where Ach is the channel area, q is the air density, h is the collector
tilt angle (30 deg for Kerman), gth is the thermal efficiency of the
system, and f is the friction factor that is calculated from the equation introduced by Tsuji and Nagano [28] for laminar flow as suggested by Tonui and Tripanagnostopoulos [19] and also by
Smolec and Thomas [29]
f 1:906 Gr= Pr1=12
(2)
The parameter DH in Eq. (1) is the hydraulic diameter of the channel. If Ach and P are the cross-sectional area and the wetted perimeter of the channel, respectively, then (Fox and McDonald [30])
DH
4Ach
P
(3)
Figure 2 shows the studied PV=T collector with the heat transfer coefficients. An energy balance analysis is performed over a
differential element having a surface area (width length) wdx after making the following assumptions:
(1) one-dimensional steady-state heat transfer
(2) negligible thermal capacities of the system components
except flowing air
(3) convection heat transfer coefficient between the channel
surfaces, the metal sheet and the flowing air are equal
(4) temperatures of the PV panels, TMS sheet, glass cover and
back insulation surface are assumed to be uniform
(1)
Time
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
13:00
13:30
14:00
14:30
15:00
Ta
Tpv
Tf1
Tf2
Ir
(W=m2) ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C)
641
727
792
816
864
884
880
870
846
800
725
30.2
31.4
32
33.2
34.3
34.6
34.8
36.1
36
36.5
35.6
57
60.3
63.4
67
68.7
70.6
70.8
70.2
71.1
70.8
68.8
37.8
40.6
42.5
43.9
45.4
45.8
46.8
48.3
46.8
47.3
45.8
36
37.8
40.5
41
42.3
42.5
42.5
42.5
43.5
44.7
44.1
Vl
(V)
Il
(A)
vf1
vf2
(m=s) (m=s)
7.58
10.85
12.8
12.9
13.08
12.97
13.12
13
12.85
10.56
9.62
2.32
2.95
3.27
3.31
3.32
3.33
3.29
3.25
3.19
2.86
2.67
0.32
0.29
0.29
0.31
0.33
0.33
0.34
0.36
0.32
0.32
0.29
0.15
0.23
0.16
0.11
0.12
0.12
0.12
0.07
0.12
0.13
0.16
Glass cover
ag Ir wdx hr;pvg h0c Tg Tpv wdx hr;gs hw
Tg Ta wdx
(4)
(6)
Ub
(7)
(8)
(17)
(18)
kins
dins
(19)
where kins and dins are the thermal conductivity and thickness of
the insulation material.
6.2 Convection Heat Transfer Coefficients. The free convection heat transfer coefficient of the air gap of height s 25 mm
between the PV panels and glass cover is calculated from the
equation derived by Hollands et al. [33] and used by Hegazy [13]
n
o
h0c k=s 11:441R 1Rsin1:8h1:6 0:66416R1=3 1
(20)
(9)
For unglazed type, Eq. (4) is eliminated and Eq. (5) is transformed to the following equation:
(16)
TMS sheet
hc TTMS Tf 2 wdx
hr;TMSb TTMS Tb wdx
(15)
PV panels
sg apv 1 gc Ir wdx UT Tpv Ta wdx hc Tpv Tf 1 wdx
hr;pvTMS Tpv TTMS wdx
(5)
where R 1708=Ras cos h and Ras is the air gap Rayleigh number
L3 :g: sin h:b:DT
, DT is the temperature difference between the
(
:a
PV surface and the glass cover). The meaning of the * exponent is
that only positive values of the terms in the square brackets are to
be used (i.e., use zero if the term is negative). All properties are
evaluated at the air gap mean temperature, Tpv Tg =2.
The natural convection heat transfer coefficients between
the airflow and both the PV panels and the TMS sheet or the
back wall are calculated by the following correlation (Randall
et al. [34]):
(11)
hc
(12)
k
0:0965Ra0:29
DH
(21)
(13)
N
1
1
2 T2
rTpv Ta Tpv
a
#1
(14)
011014-4 / Vol. 134, FEBRUARY 2012
Tg4 Ts4
Tg Ta
(22)
(23)
The radiative heat transfer coefficient in the air cavities is determined using the linearized coefficient from StefanBoltzmann
equation (Duffie and Beckman [32]):
hr;12 rT1
T2 T12
T22
1
1
1
1
e1 e2
(24)
Io;ref
IL;ref
expVoc;ref =aref 1
(30)
aref Tpv;ref
(31)
Ir
IL;ref lI;sc Tpv Tc;ref
Ir;ref
Tpv;ref
Tpv 3
eNs
exp
1
Tpv;ref
aref
Tpv
IL
Io
Io;ref
Rs Rs;ref
Fig. 3
V I:Rs
Rsh
(25)
(26)
Parameters IL , Io , Rs , and a depend on solar radiation and the temperature of the PV panel. A method to determine these four parameters is presented by Duffie and Beckman [32]. This method is
based on information for I and V given by the manufacturer of a
PV unit for reference solar radiation, Iref , at a reference temperature, Tref , (Table 3) and is described briefly by the following relations [32]:
IL;ref Isc;ref
(27)
aref
aref
Rs;ref
Table 3
(28)
(29)
(33)
(34)
(32)
6 B
Iarray NP:IL NP:Io 4exp@
Varray Iarray :
NS:a
1
3
NS
:Rs
7
NP C
A 15 (35)
(36)
(37)
_ p Tout Tin
mc
Ir :Apv
(38)
Ns 36 cells
Isc,ref 2.98 A
Imp,ref 2.76 A
Tsc,ref 298 K
Pmax 45 W
Voc,ref 20.5 V
Vmp,ref 16.3 V
gel
Il :Vl
Ir :Apv
(39)
where Il and Vl are the current and voltage of the resistive load.
Finally, the total efficiency that is used by many researchers
[9,3640] for evaluating the PV=T system. The total efficiency of
the studied PV=T air collector is calculated by
gtot gth gel
(40)
Exergy Analysis
X_ out
X
X_ thermal X_ electrical
(42)
(45)
(47)
where
X_ electrical
"
X_ in
Vl :Il
#
(48)
4
Ta
4Ta
1
13
Ir :Apv
Tsun
3Tsun
Ta 273
_
m
c
T
x
L
T
1
f
1
p
f
1
a
Tf 1 x L 273
X_ thermal
"
#
eth
X_ in
1 Ta 4 4Ta
1
Ir :Apv
3 Tsun
3Tsun
Ta 273
m_ f 2 cp Tf 2 x L Ta 1
Tf 2 x L 273
"
#
4
Ta
4Ta
1
13
Ir :Apv
Tsun
3Tsun
eel
(49)
10
Fig. 8 Thermal, electrical and total energy and exergy efficiency for glazed system
Fig. 9 Thermal, electrical and total energy and exergy efficiency for unglazed system
Fig. 12 Variation of total energy and exergy efficiency with collector length for both glazed and unglazed systems
channel depth, the air mass flow rate hence thermal efficiency
increases initially, achieve a maximum value and then approaches
constant value. When the air mass flow rate is approximately constant, air velocity, hence convection heat transfer coefficient
decreases as the channel depth increases. Thus, by increasing the
channel depth, the PV panel temperature decreases initially and
achieves a minimum value and then increases. In contrast with PV
panel temperature, by increasing the channel depth the electrical
efficiency increases initially and achieves a maximum value and
then decreases.
Figure 12 displays the effect of the channel length on the total
energy and exergy efficiency of both glazed and unglazed systems, where it is seen that total energy efficiency initially
increases with collector length and then decreases, while total
exergy efficiency decreases with collector length. By increasing
the collector length, the PV panel temperature increases that leads
to the reduction of electrical energy and exergy efficiency. On the
other hand, increasing the collector length leads to higher outlet
air temperature and friction losses resulting to the increase and
decrease in the air mass flow rate, respectively. Results show that
there is an optimum collector length (L 2:76m) at which air
mass flow rate, hence thermal energy efficiency, is a maximum.
When the collector length is below the optimum value, the
increasing outlet air temperature is dominating and so air mass
flow rate, hence thermal efficiency goes up with collector length
while at higher values of collector length, the increasing friction
losses are dominating and so air mass flow rate, hence thermal efficiency decreases. From the above, it can be said that the initial
increase in total energy efficiency is due to the fact that in this
range of collector length, the thermal energy efficiency is more
dominant than the electrical energy efficiency. It is seen from Fig.
12 that for both glazed and unglazed types, the thermal energy efficiency exceeds the electrical energy efficiency and so total
energy efficiency increases initially with collector length and then
decreases while the electrical exergy efficiency exceeds thermal
exergy efficiency and so total exergy efficiency decreases.
Figure 13 gives the variation of the total energy and exergy
efficiency of both glazed and unglazed systems against the
PV cell efficiency at standard test conditions (Ta 25 C
and Ir 1000 W=m2 ), where it is seen that both efficiencies
increase with increasing PV cell efficiency. By increasing the PV
cell efficiency, the electrical energy and exergy efficiency of the
studied system increases while thermal energy and exergy efficiency of the system decreases. As showed in Fig. 13, for both
glazed and unglazed types, the electrical energy and exergy efficiency outweighs the thermal energy and exergy efficiency and so
total energy and exergy efficiency increases with increasing PV
cell efficiency.
At last, it is seen from Figs. 1013 that, as mentioned before,
the total energy efficiency in the glazed system is more than the
Transactions of the ASME
hw
I
Iarray
ID
IL
Il
Imp
Io
Ioc
Ir
Isc
k
kins
L
m_
Fig. 13 Variation of total energy and exergy efficiency with PV
cell efficiency for both glazed and unglazed systems
m_ f 1
m_ f 2
11
Conclusion
There are good agreement between the predicted and measured values of the outlet air temperature, PV panel temperature and operating voltage and current of the PV panel.
Setting glass cover on photovoltaic panels leads to an increase
of the outlet air and PV panel temperature and decrease of the
operating voltage and current of the PV panels.
The glazed system presents higher thermal and total energy
output in quantity, where the unglazed system present
higher electrical and total energy output in quality.
Total energy efficiency of the studied system increases with
increasing solar radiation intensity while total exergy efficiency decreases with increasing solar radiation intensity.
There is an optimum channel depth at which total energy and
exergy efficiency of the studied system is a maximum.
There is an optimum collector length at which total energy
and exergy efficiency of the studied system is a maximum.
Total energy and exergy efficiency of the studied system
increases with increasing PV cell efficiency.
Nomenclature
Ach
Apv
Cp
DH
f
g
Gr
hc
h0c
hr;gs
hr;pvg
hr;pvTMS
hr;TMSb
N
NP
NS
Ns
P
Pr
Q_ u
R
Ra
Rl
Rs
Rsh
s
Ta
Tb
Tg
Tin
Tout
Tpv
Ts
TTMS
Ub
UT
vf 1
vf 2
V
Iarray
Vl
Vmp
Voc
Vsc
vw
w
X_ dest
X_ electrical
X_ in
X_ out
X_ thermal
Greek Symbols
a thermal diffusivity (m2 s1)
ag ; apv absorptance of glass cover and PV cells, respectively
b thermal expansivity of air (K1)
bref temperature coefficient of PV cells (K1)
e energy gap of silicon ( 1.12 eV)
eg ; epv emissivity of glass cover and PV cells, respectively
eel electrical exergetic efficiency
eth thermal exergetic efficiency
FEBRUARY 2012, Vol. 134 / 011014-9
etot
h
gc
gref
gel
gth
gtot
q
r
sg
dins
lI;sc
lV;oc
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