Applied Energy 87 (2010) 23282339

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Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

An improved thermal and electrical model for a solar photovoltaic

thermal (PV/T) air collector
F. Sarhaddi *, S. Farahat, H. Ajam, A. Behzadmehr, M. Mahdavi Adeli
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shahid Nikbakht Faculty of Engineering, University of Sistan & Baluchestan, Zahedan 98164-161, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, an attempt is made to investigate the thermal and electrical performance of a solar photo-
Received 11 August 2009 voltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector. A detailed thermal and electrical model is developed to calculate the
Received in revised form 30 December 2009 thermal and electrical parameters of a typical PV/T air collector. The thermal and electrical parameters of
Accepted 2 January 2010
a PV/T air collector include solar cell temperature, back surface temperature, outlet air temperature,
Available online 21 January 2010
open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, maximum power point voltage, maximum power point cur-
rent, etc. Some corrections are done on heat loss coefcients in order to improve the thermal model of
Keywords:
a PV/T air collector. A better electrical model is used to increase the calculations precision of PV/T air col-
Solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air
collector
lector electrical parameters. Unlike the conventional electrical models used in the previous literature, the
Computer simulation electrical model presented in this paper can estimate the electrical parameters of a PV/T air collector such
as open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, maximum power point voltage, and maximum power point
current. Further, an analytical expression for the overall energy efciency of a PV/T air collector is derived
in terms of thermal, electrical, design and climatic parameters. A computer simulation program is devel-
oped in order to calculate the thermal and electrical parameters of a PV/T air collector. The results of
numerical simulation are in good agreement with the experimental measurements noted in the previous
literature. Finally, parametric studies have been carried out. Since some corrections have been down on
thermal and electrical models, it is observed that the thermal and electrical simulation results obtained in
this paper is more precise than the one given by the previous literature. It is also found that the thermal
efciency, electrical efciency and overall energy efciency of PV/T air collector is about 17.18%, 10.01%
and 45%, respectively, for a sample climatic, operating and design parameters.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Renewable energies are going to be a main substitute for fossil
fuels in the coming years for their clean and renewable nature. So-
lar energy is one of the most signicant renewable energy sources
that world needs. The major applications of solar energy can be
classied into two categories: solar thermal system, which con-
verts solar energy to thermal energy, and photovoltaic (PV) system,
which converts solar energy to electrical energy. Usually, these
systems are used separately. In the solar thermal system, external
electrical energy is required to circulate the working uid through
the system. On the other hand, in the PV system, the electrical ef-
ciency of the system decreases rapidly as the PV module tempera-
ture increases. Therefore, in order to achieve higher electrical
efciency, the PV module should be cooled by removing the heat
in some way. In order to eliminate an external electrical source
and to cool the PV module, the PV module should be combined
with the solar air/water heater collector. This type of system is
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 541 2426206; fax: +98 541 2447092.
E-mail address: fsarhaddi@eng.usb.ac.ir (F. Sarhaddi).
called solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) collector. The PV/T collec-
tor produces thermal and electrical energy simultaneously. Besides
the higher overall energy performance, the advantage of the PV/T
system lies in the reduction of the demands on physical space
and the equipment cost through the use of common frames and
brackets as compared to the separated PV and solar thermal sys-
tems placed side-by-side.
A signicant amount of theoretical as well as experimental
studies on the PV/T systems has been carried out in the last
35 years.
Wolf [1], Kern and Russell [2] as early as in the 1970s have pre-
sented the main concept of PV/T collector with the use of either
water or air as the coolant.
Cox and Raghuraman [3] have carried out computer simulation
to optimize the design of at plate PV/T solar air collector in order
to increase the solar absorptance and reducing the infrared
emittance.
Bhargava et al. [4] have analyzed a hybrid system, which is a
combination of an air heater and photovoltaic system and they
have given useful results.

0306-2619/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2010.01.001
 F. Sarhaddi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 23282339 2329

Nomenclature

a ideality factor (eV) Greek symbols

A area (m2) a absorptivity, current temperature coefcient (mA/C)
Cf the conversion factor of thermal power plant (as)eff the product of effective absorptivity and transmittivity
Cp specic heat capacity of air (kJ/kg K) b packing factor, voltage temperature coefcient (V/C)
dx elemental length of ow duct (m) d duct depth (m)
E electrical power (W) D difference in current, temperature, voltage
EPBT energy pay back time e emissivity, semiconductor band gap energy (eV)
EVA ethyl vinyl acrelate g efciency (%)
G solar radiation intensity (W/m2) q density (kg/m3)
h heat transfer coefcient (W/m2 K) r StefanBoltzmanns constant (W/m2 K4)
hp1 penalty factor due to the presence of solar cell material, s transmittivity
glass and EVA
hp2 penalty factor due to the presence of interface between Subscripts
tedlar and working uid 1 length
I circuit current (A) 2 width
IPVTS integrated photovoltaic thermal solar amb ambient
IV currentvoltage b back
K thermal conductivity (W/m K) bs back surface of tedlar
L dimensions of solar module, duct length, the length of c solar cell
PV/T air collector, thickness (m) cell cell, module
n number of experiments conv convection
Nc number of cells in PV module D diode
Nm number of modules in series per string el electrical
Ns number of string en energy
m_ mass ow rate of air (kg/s) exp experimental
PV photovoltaic f uid ow
PV/T photovoltaic/thermal collector g glass
Q_ heat transfer rate (W) i insulation, ith parameter
R resistance (X) in inlet
RMS root mean square percentage deviation (%) L light current
S solar absorbed ux (W) mod module
SRC standard rating conditions mp maximum power point
T temperature (K) new new
Ub an overall back loss coefcient from owing air to ambi- o reverse saturation
ent (W/m2 K) oc open-circuit
UL an overall heat loss coefcient from the PV/T air collec- out outlet
tor to the environment (W/m2 K) ov overall
Ut an overall heat transfer coefcient from solar cell to pre predicted
ambient through glass cover (W/m2 K) rad radiative
UT a conductive heat transfer coefcient from solar cell to ref reference
owing air through tedlar (W/m2 K) s series
UtT an overall heat transfer coefcient from glass to tedlar sc short-circuit
through solar cell (W/m2 K) sh shunt
Utf an overall heat transfer coefcient from glass to air si silicon
through solar cell and tedlar (W/m2 K) sim simulated
V circuit voltage (V), wind speed (m/s) sky sky
W the width of PV/T air collector (m) t top
X experimental or simulated value of parameter T tedlar
th thermal
u useful
w wind

Garg et al. [5] have presented a theoretical study of PV/T collec-
tor using plane booster reectors. The system consists of a at
plate solar air heater mounted with photovoltaic cells and two plan
reectors above and below the collector unit.
Garg and Adhikar [6] have developed a computer simulation
model in order to predicate the transient performance of PV/T air
heating collector with single and double glass congurations.
Sopian et al. [7] have proposed a new design of double pass PV/T
collector, which can produce more useful thermal energy, while
simultaneously having a productive cooling effect on the cell.
Hagazy [8] has investigated glazed photovoltaic/thermal air
system for a single and a double pass air heater for space heating
and the drying purposes.
Kalogirou [9] has carried out monthly performance of a hybrid
PV/T system under forced mode of operation for climatic condition
of Cyprus.
Lee et al. [10] and Chow et al. [11] have descried interesting
modeling results on air-cooled PV modules. They have found that
the overall electrical efciency of PV/T system in the year is around
10.2% and reduce the space heat gain by 48%.
2330 F. Sarhaddi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 23282339

Zondag et al. [12] have developed 1D, 2D, and 3D dynamical efciency of an IPVTS system is maximum at the hot water with-
models of a combi-panel (PV/T). They have concluded that the sim- drawal ow rate of 0.006 kg/s.
ple 1D steady-state model for computing daily yield from combi- Sarhaddi, Farahat and Ajam have optimized several solar energy
panel performs almost as well as more time consuming 2D and systems especially PV systems based on exergy analysis [2528].
3D dynamic models. In this paper, the thermal and electrical performance evaluation
Ineld et al. [13] have suggested reducing the temperature of of a solar PV/T air collector will be studied. A detailed thermal and
the PV module by owing air between the PV module and the dou- electrical model will be developed to calculate the thermal and
ble glass wall for space heating. They have developed a steady- electrical parameters of a typical PV/T air collector. The thermal
state model to evaluate an overall heat loss coefcient and thermal and electrical parameters of a PV/T air collector include solar cell
gain factor. temperature, back surface temperature, outlet air temperature,
Coventry [14] has studied the performance of a concentrating open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, maximum power point
PV/T collector and concluded that an overall thermal and electrical voltage, maximum power point current, etc. Some corrections will
efciency of concentrating PV/T system are 58% and 11%, respec- be down on heat loss coefcients in order to improve the thermal
tively. This gives a total efciency of the system as 69%. model of a PV/T air collector. A better electrical model will be used
Tiwari et al. [15] have validated the theoretical and experimen- to increase the calculations precision of PV/T air collector electrical
tal results for PV module integrated with air duct for composite cli- parameters. Further, an analytical expression for the overall energy
mate of India and concluded that an overall thermal efciency of efciency of a PV/T air collector will be derived in terms of thermal,
PV/T system is signicantly increased (18%) due to utilization of electrical, design and climatic parameters. A computer simulation
thermal energy from PV module. program will be developed to predict the thermal and electrical
Chow et al. [16] has done an experimental study of facade-inte- parameters of a PV/T air collector. Finally, parametric studies will
grated photovoltaic/thermal water-heating system and found the be carried out; also, the effect of climatic, design and operating
thermal efciency as 38.9% at zero reduced temperature and the parameters on overall energy efciency will be studied.
corresponding electrical efciency as 8.56% during the summer of The overall energy efciency of a PV/T system is parametrically
2006 (Hong Kong). They have compared both forced as well as nat- dependent on its thermal and electrical analysis. Hence, in the next
ural mode of water circulation and found that the latter is more sections these analyses will be carried out.
preferable and suggested that the system can serve as a water pre-
heating system. 2. Thermal analysis
Dubey and Tiwari [17] have developed a thermal model of a PV
integrated solar water heater and validated the experimental The proof of governing equations on PV/T air collector thermal
results. analysis is not included in order to have a brief note. More details
Dubey et al. [18] have derived the expression for temperature of governing equations derivations are found in Refs.
dependent electrical efciency considering glass to glass and glass [15,17,18,20,21,24].
to tedlar type PV modules. Fig. 1 shows the cross-sectional view of a PV/T air collector, its
Abdolzadeh and Ameri [19] have investigated the possibility of equivalent thermal resistant circuit and an elemental length dx of
improving the performance of a photovoltaic water pumping sys- ow duct [15,20,24].
tem by spraying water over the front of PV array experimentally. Writing the energy balance equation for each component of a
They have pointed out that the efciency of PV array can be in- PV/T air collector gives the thermal parameters and thermal ef-
creased due to spraying water over the front of PV array. ciency of a PV/T air collector as follows:
Joshi et al. [20] have developed a thermal model for the PV mod-
ule integrated with solar air collector and validated it experimen- aseff G U t T amb U T T bs
T cell ; 1
tally. They have indicated that PV module temperature can be Ut UT
controlled and reduced in consequence of changing the mass ow
rate of air in solar collector and the efciency of PV module can be hp1 aseff G U tT T amb hf T f
T bs ; 2
increased. U tT hf
Tiwari et al. [21] have analyzed energy metrics (energy pay back
   
time, electricity production factor and life cycle conversion ef- hp1 hp2 aseff G WU L L
T f;out T amb 1  exp
ciency) of a PV/T air collector for the composite climate of New UL _ p
mC
 
Delhi, India. They have reported that the energy pay back time WU L L
(EPBT) of a PV/T air collector is reduced by taking into account T f;in exp ; 3
_ p
mC
the increase in annual energy availability of the thermal energy
in addition to the electrical energy. Z
1 L
Chow [22] has done a review on PV/T hybrid solar technology Tf T f xdx
L x0
especially PV/T air collector systems. His article gives a review of      
the trend of development of the technology, in particular the hp1 hp2 aseff G WU L L WU L L
T amb 1  1  exp
advancements in recent years and the future work required. UL _ p
mC _ p
mC
   
Chow et al. [23] have investigated the performance evaluation WU L L WU L L
T f;in 1  exp ;
of a glazed and unglazed PV/T water system in the terms of en- _ p
mC _ p
mC
ergy and exergy efciency for Hong Kong climates. They have 4
indicated that in terms of the rst law, a glazed PV/T system is
suitable and in terms of the second law, an unglazed PV/T sys-   mC
_ p  

tem is favorable. Q_ u mC
_ p T f;out  T f;in hp1 hp2 aseff G  U L T f;in  T amb
  U
 L
Tiwari et al. [24] have carried out the energy and exergy analy- WU L L
sis of an integrated photovoltaic thermal solar (IPVTS) water hea-  1  exp ; 5
_ p
mC
ter. They have reported that the overall exergy and thermal
 F. Sarhaddi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 23282339 2331

U tT 1=U t 1=U T 1 U t U T =U T U t ; 10

1
U tf 1=hf 1=U tT  U tT hf =U tT hf : 11
Some corrections have been done on heat loss coefcients in order
to increase the calculations precision of PV/T air collector thermal
parameters as follows:

(i) The conductive resistance term Lsi/Ksi has been added to con-
ductive heat transfer coefcient from solar cell to owing air
through tedlar (UT).
U T Lsi =K si LT =K T 1 : 12
(ii) The radiative heat transfer coefcient term (hrad) has been
added to overall heat transfer coefcient from solar cell to
ambient through glass cover (Ut). Further, a better relation
has been used for the calculation of convective heat transfer
coefcient on the top surface of PV/T air collector (hconv,t).

1
U t Lg =K g 1=hconv;t 1=hrad ; 13
hconv;t 2:8 3V w ; 14
  
hrad eg r T sky T cell T 2sky T 2cell ; 15

where Vw is wind speed on the top surface of PV/T air collec-

tor. The effective temperature of the sky (Tsky) is calculated
from the following empirical relation [29]:
T sky T amb  6: 16
(iii) In the estimation of overall back loss coefcient from ow-
ing air to ambient (Ub), the convective heat transfer coef-
cient on the back surface of PV/T air collector (hconv,b) has
been calculated from Eq. (14)

1
U b Li =K i 1=hconv;b : 17
(iv) In the previous studies [124], the convective heat transfer
coefcient inside the air duct (hf) has been assumed as a con-
stant factor. However, in this research hf is calculated
according to ow regime and its Nusselt number.
(v) In the previous studies [124], overall heat transfer coef-
cient from PV/T air collector to surrounding (UL) has been
assumed as a constant factor, whereas it is not constant.
However, in this research this coefcient is considered as
a variable. UL includes all of conduction, convection and
radiation losses from the PV/T air collector to the
atmosphere.

U L U b U tf : 18
Fig. 1. (a) The cross-sectional view of a PV/T air collector, (b) thermal resistance
circuit diagram for a PV/T air collector and (c) an elemental length dx of ow duct
[15,20,24]. 3. Electrical analysis
 
Q_ _ p
mC U L T f;in  T amb Since the presence of the electrical efciency of PV module (gel)
gth u hp1 hp2 aseff 
in Eq. (7), the thermal analysis of PV/T air collector and its electri-
WLG WLU L G
  
WU L L cal analysis are dependent. The calculation precision of thermal
 1  exp ; 6 parameters of a PV/T air collector will be improved if the electrical
_ p
mC
efciency of PV module is calculated in a precise way.
where Tcell, Tbs, Tamb, Tf,out, T f ; Q_ u , G, m,
_ Cp, L, W and gth are solar cell In the previous studies [124], the electrical efciency of a PV
temperature, back surface temperature, ambient temperature, out- module has been calculated from the following equation [30,31]:
let air temperature, average air temperature in ow duct, the rate of  

useful thermal energy, solar radiation intensity, the mass ow rate
of owing air, the heat capacity of owing air, the length of air duct,
the width of air duct and PV/T air collector thermal efciency,
respectively. In the above equations, the related heat transfer coef-
cients are dened as follows:
aseff sg ac bc aT 1  bc  bc gel ;
hp1 U T =U T U t ;
hp2 hf =U tT hf ;
gel gel;ref 1  0:0045 T cell  T amb;ref : 19
The subscript ref indicates the value of parameters at the reference
conditions. Eq. (19) has some deciencies; rst, at low solar radia-
tion intensity, it gives PV module electrical efciency equals the
electrical efciency of the reference conditions (gel  gel,ref = 0.12).
7 The equivalence of the solar cell and ambient temperature is the
reason of this fact. Second, Eq. (19) cannot estimate the electrical
8
parameters of a PV/T air collector such as open-circuit voltage,
9
short-circuit current, maximum power point voltage, and maxi-
2332 F. Sarhaddi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 23282339

mum power point current. Knowing the output value of current or where Voc, Vmp, Isc and Imp are open-circuit voltage, maximum
voltage in a PV system affects PV modules arrangement (series or power point voltage, short-circuit current and maximum power
parallel). point current, respectively.
In order to increase the calculations precision of PV/T air collec- The Eqs. (21)(25) are a set of nonlinear equations that can be
tor electrical parameters, in this research the electrical efciency of solved with numerical methods. Solving Eqs. (21)(25) gives the
a PV module and its electrical parameters is calculated from the value of ve parameters (aref, IL,ref, Io,ref, Rs,ref and Rsh,ref), at the ref-
electrical simulation of a PV module. The proof of governing equa- erence conditions (Tcell,ref = 25C, Gref = 1000 W/m2). In order to cal-
tions on PV module electrical analysis is not included in order to culate the model parameters at new climatic and operating
have a brief note. A PV module is nonlinear device and can be rep- conditions (Gnew, Tcell,new), a set of translation equations is used
resented by its currentvoltage (IV) characteristic curve. There are such as follows [32,34]:
several mathematical models, which can describe IV characteris-
a T cell
tic curve. Five-parameter photovoltaic model (Fig. 2) for IV char- ; 26
aref T cell;ref
acteristic curve is dened as [32]  3   
    Io T cell eNc T cell;ref
V IRs V IRs exp 1 ; 27
I IL  Io exp 1  ; 20 Io;ref T cell;ref aref T cell
a Rsh  
G

where I and V represent current and voltage at load, a, IL, Io, Rs and IL IL;ref aT cell  T cell;ref ; 28
Gref
Rsh are ideality factor, light current, diode reverse saturation cur-
DT T cell  T cell;ref ; 29
rent, series resistance and shunt resistance, respectively. The second    
terms on the right-hand side of Eq. (20) indicate diode current (ID). G G
DI a DT Isc;ref ; 30
In order to calculate ve reference parameters (aref, IL,ref, Io,ref, Rs,ref Gref Gref  1
and Rsh,ref), ve pieces of information are needed at reference con- DV bDT  Rs DI; 31
ditions. These ve pieces of information are dened as follows [32]: Inew Iref DI; 32
At short-circuit current I = Isc,ref, V = 0 V new V ref DV; 33
At open-circuit voltage I = 0, V = Voc,ref
At the maximum power point I = Imp,ref, V = Vmp,ref where e, Nc, a and b are semiconductor band gap energy (1.12 eV for
At the maximum power point [d(IV)/dV]mp = 0 silicon solar cell), cells number in series, current temperature coef-
At short circuit [dI/dV]sc = 1/Rsh,ref cient and voltage temperature coefcient, respectively. PV module
manufacturers usually give temperature coefcients [33].
The new values of maximum power point voltage and maxi-
Reference conditions or standard rating conditions (SRC) are de- mum power point current are obtained from solved IV character-
ned as follows [33]: istic curve and Eq. (24) simultaneously at new climatic and
operating conditions (Fig. 3) [35].
The solar cell temperature at reference Tcell,ref = 25 C The electrical efciency of a PV module can be dened as the ra-
conditions tio of actual electrical output to input solar energy incident on PV
The solar radiation intensity at reference Gref = 1000 W/m2 surface area as follows [1724]:
conditions
V mp Imp Eel
gel ; 34
S S
Substituting the above ve pieces of information into Eq. (20), the where Eel is electrical power and solar absorbed ux (S) is given by
following equations are obtained
S GNs Nm Amod ; 35
   
Isc;ref Rs;ref Isc;ref Rs;ref
Isc;ref IL;ref  Io;ref exp 1  ; 21 where Nm and Ns are number of modules in series per string and
aref Rsh;ref
    number of strings, respectively. PV module area (Amod) is given by
V oc;ref V oc;ref
0 IL;ref  Io;ref exp 1  ; 22 Amod L1 L2 ; 36
aref Rsh;ref
    where L1 and L2 are the length of PV module and the width of PV
V mp;ref Imp;ref Rs;ref module, respectively. Here we convert the conventional electrical
Imp;ref IL;ref  Io;ref exp 1
aref efciency to thermal efciency equivalent through the following
 
V mp;ref Imp;ref Rs;ref equation:
 ; 23
Rsh;ref gel
dIV=dVmp 0; 24 gel;th ; 37
Cf
dI=dVsc 1=Rsh;ref ; 25 where Cf is the conversion factor of the thermal power plant and its
value may be taken as 0.36 for countries such as India [36].
The overall energy efciency of a PV/T air collector can be calcu-
lated by adding the thermal efciency (Eq. (6)) and thermal ef-
ciency equivalent of electrical efciency (Eq. (37)) as [20]
gel
gen;ov gth gel;th gth : 38
Cf
An iterative method is used to solve the governing equations. First,
the electrical efciency is assumed equal to the electrical efciency
at the reference conditions (gel = gel,ref = 0.12). Then, the value of Tbs,
Tcell, T f and Tf,out are calculated from Eqs. (1)(4), respectively. After
Fig. 2. Equivalent electrical circuit in the ve-parameter photovoltaic model [32]. nding the value of Tbs, Tcell, T f and Tf,out, the electrical efciency
 F. Sarhaddi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 23282339 2333

Table 1
The values of climatic, operating and design parameters during validation process and
parametric studies of PV/T air collector [15,20,32,33].

Solar PV/T air collector parameters Value

Module type Siemens SP75,
monocrystalline silicon
The length of PV module, L1 1.2 m
The width of PV module, L2 0.527 m
The number of modules in series per string, Nm 1
The number of strings, Ns 2
The short-circuit current at the reference Ns  4.8 A (for total PV
conditions, Isc,ref array)
The open-circuit voltage at the reference Nm  21.7 V (for total PV
conditions, Voc,ref array)
The maximum power point current at the Ns  4.4 A (for total PV
reference conditions, Imp,ref array)
The maximum power point voltage at the Nm  17 V (for total PV
reference conditions, Vmp,ref array)
The solar radiation intensity at the reference 1000 W/m2
conditions, Gref
The ambient temperature at reference 298.15 K
Fig. 3. Representation of a general currentvoltage characteristic curve and its conditions, Tamb,ref
parameters [35]. The solar cell temperature at reference 298.15 K
conditions, Tcell,ref
The electrical efciency at the reference 0.12
conditions, gel,ref
The current temperature coefcient, a 2.06 mA/C
must be updated. The electrical efciency is updated by solving the
The voltage temperature coefcient, b 0.077 V/C
electrical model with Tcell, Tamb and G as input data to the model. The semiconductor band gap energy, e 1.12 eV
Iteration is continued until the difference of electrical efciency in The thickness of glass cover, Lg 0.003 m
two successive iteration to be less than predened tolerance. After The conductivity of glass cover, Kg 1 W/m K
iteration is nalized, the value of Q_ u , gth and gen,ov are calculated The transmittivity of glass cover, sg 0.95
The emissivity of PV/T air collector, eg 0.88
from Eqs. (5), (6), and (38), respectively.
The absorptivity of solar cell, ac 0.85
The thickness of silicon solar cell, Lsi 300  106 m
The conductivity of silicon solar cell, Ksi 0.036 W/m K
4. Results and discussion The absorptivity of tedlar, aT 0.5
The thickness of tedlar, LT 0.0005 m
4.1. Experimental validation The conductivity of tedlar, KT 0.033 W/m K
The thickness of back insulation, Li 0.05 m
The conductivity of back insulation, Ki 0.035 W/m K
The experimental results of Joshi et al. [20] for a PV/T air collec-
The length of air duct, L 1.2 m
tor make it possible to verify the results obtained by our computer The width of PV/T air collector, W 0.45 m
simulation. The measured data in Ref. [20] include the solar radia- The duct depth, d 0.05 m
tion intensity, ambient temperature, inlet and outlet air tempera- The packing factor of solar cell, bc 0.83
The wind speed, Vw 1 m/s
ture, solar cell temperature, back surface temperature, inlet air
The conversion factor of the thermal power 0.36
velocity, open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current and electrical plant, Cf
power. Additional information about the experiment method and
its conditions are found in Ref. [20]. The simulated values of outlet
air temperature, solar cell temperature, back surface temperature, s
open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, electrical power, ther- P
100  X sim;i  X exp ;i =X sim;i 2
mal efciency, electrical efciency and overall energy efciency RMS ; 39
n
in present work have been validated by their corresponding exper-
imental values in Ref. [20]. Further, a comparison between the sim- where n is the number of the experiments carried out.
ulated values of outlet air temperature, solar cell temperature, The variations of solar radiation intensity, ambient tempera-
back surface, temperature, electrical power, thermal efciency, ture, inlet air temperature and inlet air velocity during the test
electrical efciency and overall energy efciency in present work day are shown in Fig. 4.
and their corresponding predicted values in Ref. [20] have been The simulated values of outlet air temperature, solar cell tem-
carried out. The experimental and predicted values of the above- perature, back surface temperature and the corresponding experi-
mentioned parameters have been obtained from Table 2, Figs. 4 mentally measured data during the test day are shown in Fig. 5.
and 6 of Ref. [20], respectively. The climatic, operating and design The predicted values of these parameters presented by Joshi
parameters of the PV/T air collector during validation process are et al. [20] are also shown in the same gure for comparison. In this
described in Table 1. They correspond to the experimental system gure, the subscript sim indicates the simulated values of param-
described by Joshi et al. [20], except that they did not report the eters in the present work and the subscript pre shows the pre-
wind speed observed over the course of their tests. This affects dicted values of parameters by Joshi et al. [20]. According to this
the convective heat transfer coefcient between the PV/T air col- gure, it is observed that there is a good agreement between the
lector surface and the ambient air. In Table 1, a wind speed of experimental and simulated values of these parameters. Further,
1 m/s is assumed to have a comparison with the experimental data. the root mean square percentage deviations of these parameters
On the other hand additionally performed calculations for different are 2.37%, 12.58% and 8.63%, respectively. The root mean square
wind speeds are also reported in the next section. percentage deviations of these parameters reported by Joshi et al.
In order to compare the simulated results with the experimen- [20] are 4.75%, 16.38% and 14.99%, respectively. It is observed that
tal measurements, a root mean square percentage deviation (RMS) our simulated results are more precise than the predicted results of
has been evaluated by following equation [20,32]: Ref. [20].
2334 F. Sarhaddi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 23282339

Table 2 ther, the electrical model used in Ref. [20] (Eq. (19)) cannot esti-
The typical results of computer simulation program under the sample conditions of mate the electrical parameters of PV/T air collector. However, the
Table 1, Tf,in = Tamb = 300K, Vin = 1m/s, G = 700 W/m2 and Ns = Nm = 1.
electrical model used in the present work is able to predicate the
Solar PV/T air collector parameters Value electrical parameters.
The thermal efciency, gth 17.18% The experimental and simulated values of electrical power and
The electrical efciency, gel 10.01% the predicted values of electrical power presented by Joshi et al.
The overall energy efciency, gen,ov 45% [20] during the test day are shown in the same gure. The respec-
The outlet air temperature, Tf,out 308.76 K
The solar cell temperature, Tcell 330.19 K
tive values of root mean square percent deviation are 5.3% and
The back surface temperature, Tbs 327.28 K 11.05%, respectively. It is observed that there is a good agreement
The average air temperature, T f 304.6 K between the simulated and experimental values of electrical
The rate of useful thermal energy, Q_ u 64.96 W power. Further, it is observed that the simulated values of electrical
The solar absorbed ux, S 442.68 W power in present work are more precise than the predicted values
The open-circuit voltage, Voc 18.78 V of electrical power presented by Joshi et al. [20].
The short-circuit current, Isc 3.406 A
The maximum power point voltage, Vmp 14.53 V
Fig. 8 shows the experimental and simulated values of overall
The maximum power point current, Imp 3.051 A energy efciency, thermal efciency and electrical efciency dur-
The light current, IL 3.407 A ing the test day.
The diode reverse saturation current, Io 1.026  105 A The predicted values of these efciencies presented by Joshi
The series resistance, Rs 0.295 X
et al. [20] are also shown in the same gure for comparison.
The shunt resistance, Rsh 582.109 X
The ideality factor, a 1.47 eV According to this gure, it is observed that there is a good agree-
The overall heat transfer coefcient, UL 4.18 W/m2 K ment between the experimental and simulated values of these ef-
The heat capacity of owing air, Cp 1.005 kJ/kg K ciencies. Further, the root mean square percentage deviations of
The product of effective absorptivity and transmittivity, 0.672 these efciencies are 5.51%, 24.42% and 5.32%, respectively. The
(as)eff
The penalty factor due to the presence of solar cell material, 0.787
root mean square percentage deviations of these efciencies re-
glass and EVA, hp1 ported by Joshi et al. [20] are 9.81%, 28.56% and 11.02%, respec-
The penalty factor due to the presence of interface between 0.376 tively. It is observed that our simulated results are more precise
tedlar and working uid, hp2 than the predicted results of Ref. [20].
The good agreement between experiment and simulation that
are shown in the previous gures (Figs. 58) indicates that the
The simulated and experimental values of open-circuit voltage assumption of a wind speed as 1 m/s in the calculations is
and short-circuit current during the test day are shown in Fig. 6. reasonable.
The values of root mean square percent deviation are 2.24% and The simulated parameters errors compared with those obtained
13.25%, respectively. It is observed that there is a good agreement by the experimental measurement is explained as follows:
between the simulated and experimental values of these
parameters.  the temperature coefcients of current and voltage have been
Fig. 7 shows the simulated values of maximum power point assumed constant. In practical cases, there is slight uctuation
voltage, maximum power point current and the experimental due to the solar radiation intensity and PV module temperature
and simulated values of electrical power during the test day. variations;
The experimental values of maximum power point voltage and  the experimental and predicted results of Ref. [20] has been
maximum power point current are not mentioned in Ref. [20]. Fur- obtained from the gures of Ref. [20] by interpolation and curve

Fig. 4. The variations of solar radiation intensity, ambient temperature, inlet air temperature, and inlet air velocity during the test day.
 F. Sarhaddi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 23282339 2335

tting methods. This subject decreases the precision of mea-
sured data;
 wind speed is not constant and has a direct effect on the
overall heat loss coefcient that can decrease the precision
of calculated overall heat loss coefcient in the computer
simulation;
 the product of effective absorptivity and transmittivity, (as)eff,
has been assumed constant while it is changing during the
day with the change of solar incidence angle on PV/T collector
surface.
4.2. Parametric studies
The values of climatic, operating and design parameters
in the parametric studies of PV/T air collector are described in Ta-
ble 1.
In order to plot the following gures some parameters are as-
sumed which are mentioned above each gure. The rest of param-
eters needed to plot the following gures are used from Table 1.
The typical results of computer simulation program under the
sample conditions of Table 1, Tf,in = Tamb = 300 K, Vin = 1 m/s,
G = 700 W/m2 and Ns = Nm = 1 has been given in Table 2.

Fig. 5. The simulated and predicted values of outlet air temperature, solar cell temperature, back surface temperature and the corresponding experimentally measured data
during the test day.

Fig. 6. The simulated and experimental values of open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current during the test day.
2336 F. Sarhaddi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 23282339

The variations of overall energy efciency, thermal efciency
and electrical efciency with respect to inlet air temperature are
plotted in Fig. 9.
The increase of inlet air temperature from 300 to 315 K deter-
mines the sensible decrease of thermal and overall energy efcien-
cies from 17.2% to 9.2% and 45% to 36.4%, respectively. On
the other hand, the electrical efciency has a slight change with re-
spect to inlet air temperature (10%).
Fig. 10 shows the variations of overall energy efciency, thermal
efciency and electrical efciency with respect to inlet air velocity.
It is observed that these efciencies increase from 26.5% to
71% and 0% to 41%, respectively, while inlet air velocity is
increasing. On the other hand, the electrical efciency has a slight
change with respect to inlet air velocity (10%).
Fig. 11 shows the effect of solar radiation intensity on the over-
all energy efciency, thermal efciency and electrical efciency.

Fig. 7. The simulated values of maximum power point voltage, maximum power point current and the simulated and experimental values of electrical power during the test
day.

Fig. 8. The experimental and simulated values of overall energy efciency, thermal efciency and electrical efciency during the test day.
 F. Sarhaddi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 23282339
Fig. 9. The variations of overall energy efciency, thermal efciency and electrical
efciency with respect to inlet air temperature.
According to this gure, it is observed that the overall energy
efciency and electrical efciency increase from 37% to 48.4%
and 6.5% to 11% initially and then they decrease to 42,7%
and 9.3%, respectively, after the solar radiation intensity reaches
about 160 W/m2. This indicates the optimum value of solar radia-
tion intensity for given climatic and design parameters (Table 1).
On the other hand, the thermal efciency has a slight change
(18%) with respect to solar radiation intensity variations.
Since this parameter is varying during the day, the design of PV/
T air collector should be based on the daily or monthly average of
this parameter.
The changes of the electrical efciency of present work and the
one given by Eq. (19) with respect to solar radiation intensity are
plotted in Fig. 12.
A comparison between the electrical efciency of present work
and the one given by Eq. (19) is carried out in this gure. According
to this gure, it is observed that the electrical efciency given by
Eq. (19) decreases from 11.88% to 9.6%, while increasing solar
radiation intensity from 5 to 1000 W/m2. It is also observed that
the electrical efciency given by Eq. (19) has a signicant error at
Fig. 10. The variations of overall energy efciency, thermal efciency and electrical
efciency with respect to inlet air velocity.
2337
Fig. 11. The effect of solar radiation intensity on the overall energy efciency,
thermal efciency and electrical efciency.
low solar radiation intensity. At low solar radiation intensity, Eq.
(19) gives the electrical efciency in such way that is almost near
the amount of the electrical efciency of the reference conditions
(gel = 11.88%  gel,ref). The equivalence of the solar cell and ambi-
ent temperature and the negligible amount of Q_ u are the reasons
of this fact. At low solar radiation intensity, the electrical efciency
must be reach to small value. But, Eq. (19) does not show this fact.
On other hand, Eq. (19) gives the electrical efciency a linear func-
tion of solar radiation intensity. However, according to our electri-
cal model the real behavior of the electrical efciency with respect
to solar radiation intensity is not linear (Fig. 12).
Fig. 13 shows the variations of overall energy efciency, thermal
efciency and electrical efciency according to the changes of wind
speed.
The overall energy efciency and thermal efciency decrease
from 47.5% to 37.5% and 20.7% to 6.7%, respectively, while
wind speed is increasing from 0 to 10 m/s. On the other hand,
the electrical efciency increases from 9.5% to 11% while wind
speed is increasing. The increase of wind speed increases overall
heat loss coefcient, therefore solar cell temperature decreases
Fig. 12. The changes of the electrical efciency of present work and the one given
by Eq. (19) with respect to solar radiation intensity.
2338 F. Sarhaddi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 23282339
Fig. 13. The variations of overall energy efciency, thermal efciency and electrical
efciency according to the changes of wind speed.
Fig. 14. The variations of overall energy efciency, thermal efciency and electrical
efciency with respect to duct length.
and in consequence, the overall energy efciency and thermal ef-
ciency decrease and the electrical efciency increases.
The variations of overall energy efciency, thermal efciency
and electrical efciency with respect to duct length are shown in
Fig. 14.
The overall energy efciency and thermal efciency decrease
from 46% to 38.5% and 17% to 10%, respectively, when duct
length increases from 1.2 to 6 m. On the other hand, the electrical
efciency has a slight change with respect to duct length (10.2%).
It is assumed that PV/T air collectors are connected in series. For
a number of PV/T air collectors connected in series, the outlet tem-
perature of the rst collector will be the inlet for second collector,
the outlet temperature of the second will be the inlet for the third
and so on.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, the performance evaluation of a PV/T air collector
was carried out. A detailed thermal and electrical model was devel-
oped to calculate the thermal and electrical parameters of a typical
PV/T air collector. Some corrections were done on heat loss coef-
cients in order to improve the thermal model of a PV/T air collector
and a better electrical model was used to increase the calculations
precision of PV/T air collector electrical parameters. Further, an
equation for the overall energy efciency of PV/T air collector
was derived in terms of thermal, electrical, design and climatic
parameters. Finally, numerical simulations, validation and para-
metric studies were carried out. On the basis of present study,
the following conclusions have been drawn:
 The numerical simulation results of this study are in good agree-
ment with the experimental measurements noted in the previ-
ous literature.
 Because of some corrections on heat loss coefcients and the use
of better electrical model, it is observed that the simulation
results obtained in this paper is more precise than the one given
by Joshi et al. [20].
 The electrical model used in present work gives more precise
results than the results of Eq. (19). It is also observed that the
electrical efciency given by Eq. (19) has a signicant error at
low solar radiation intensity. At low solar radiation intensity,
the electrical efciency must be reach to small value. But, Eq.
(19) does not show this fact. On other hand, Eq. (19) gives the
electrical efciency a linear function of solar radiation intensity.
However, according to the electrical model used in present work
the real behavior of the electrical efciency with respect to solar
radiation intensity is not linear.
 The electrical efciency of a PV/T air collector has a slight change
with respect to operating and design parameters.
 The overall energy efciency of a PV/T air collector is always
greater than the thermal efciency of a solar collector or the
electrical efciency of a PV module.
 When inlet air temperature or wind speed or duct length
increase, the overall energy efciency and thermal efciency of
a PV/T air collector decrease.
 While inlet air velocity is increasing, the overall energy ef-
ciency and thermal efciency of a PV/T air collector increase.
 Increasing the solar radiation intensity, the overall energy ef-
ciency and electrical efciency of a PV/T air collector increase
initially and then decreases after attaining solar radiation inten-
sity of about a maximum point.
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