Applied Energy 86 (2009) 697705

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

Analytical expression for electrical efciency of PV/T hybrid air collector

Swapnil Dubey *, G.S. Sandhu, G.N. Tiwari
Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016, India

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

Article history: The overall electrical efciency of the photovoltaic (PV) module can be increased by reducing the temper-
Received 22 May 2008 ature of the PV module by withdrawing the thermal energy associated with the PV module. In this
Received in revised form 26 July 2008 communication an attempt has been made to develop analytical expression for electrical efciency of
Accepted 5 September 2008
PV module with and without ow as a function of climatic and design parameters. The four different con-
Available online 18 October 2008
gurations of PV modules are considered for the present study which are dened as; case A (Glass to glass
PV module with duct), case B (Glass to glass PV module without duct), case C (Glass to tedlar PV module
Keywords:
with duct), case D (Glass to tedlar PV module without duct). Further, experiments were carried out for all
Photovoltaic
Electrical efciency
congurations under composite climate of New Delhi.
Solar radiation It is found that the glass to glass PV modules with duct gives higher electrical efciency as well as the
Thermal energy higher outlet air temperature amongst the all four cases. The annual effect on electrical efciency of glass
to glass type PV module with and without duct is also evaluated. The annual average efciency of glass to
glass type PV module with and without duct is 10.41% and 9.75%, respectively.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Photovoltaic (PV) directly convert solar radiation into electricity
with peak efciency in the range of 912%, depending on specic
solar cell type. More than 80% of the solar radiation falling on
photovoltaic (PV) cells is not converted to electricity, but either
reected or converted to thermal energy. This leads to an increase
in the PV cells working temperature and consequently, a drop of
electricity conversion efciency. In view of this, hybrid photovol-
taic and thermal (PV/T) systems are introduced to simultaneously
generate electricity and thermal power. In PV/T system applica-
tions the production of electricity is the main priority, therefore
it is necessary to operate the PV modules at low temperature,
the carrier of thermal energy associated with the PV module may
be either air or water. Kern and Russel [1] present the design and
performance of water and air cooled PV/T systems, while Hendrie
[2] and Florschuetz [3] include PV/T modelling in their works.
Numerical methods predicting PV/T system performance are
developed by Raghuraman [4], computer simulations are studied
by Cox and Raghuraman [5], a low cost PV/T system with transpar-
ent type a-Si cells is proposed by Lalovic et al. [6] and results from
an applied air type PV/T system are given by Loferski et al. [7]. Garg
and Adhikari [8] present a variety of results regarding the effect of
design and operational parameters on the performance of air type
PV/T systems.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9868929291.
E-mail address: swapnil_iitd@rediffmail.com (S. Dubey).
Hagazy [9] and Sopian et al. [10] investigated glazed photovol-
taic/thermal air system for a single and a double pass air heater for
space heating and the drying purposes. Kalogirou [11] has carried
out monthly performance of an unglazed hybrid PV/T system un-
der forced mode of operation for climatic condition of the Cyprus.
He observed an increase of the mean annual efciency of the PV
solar system from 2.8% to 7.7% with thermal efciency of 49%.
Lee et al. [12] and Chow et al. [13] give interesting modelling re-
sults on air cooled PV modules. Jones and Underwood [14] have
studied the temperature prole of the photovoltaic (PV) module
in a non-steady state condition with respect to time. They
conducted experiment for cloudy as well clear day condition. They
observed that the PV module temperature varies in the range of
300325 K (2752 C) for an ambient air temperature of 297.5 K
(24.5 C). The main reasons for reduction of the electrical ef-
ciency of the PV module is packing factor (PF) of PV module, ohmic
losses between two consecutive solar cells and the temperature of
the module. The overall electrical efciency of the PV module can
be increased by increasing the packing factor (PF) and reducing
the temperature of the PV module by withdrawing the thermal en-
ergy associated with the PV module, [15,16]. Packing factor is the
ratio of total area of solar cells to the area of PV module. To in-
crease the efciency of PV a sun-tracking design is presented by
Mohamad [17], the movement of a photovoltaic module was con-
trolled to follow the Suns radiation using a programmable logic-
controller (PLC) unit. He has found that the daily output power
of the PV was increased by more than 20% in comparison with that
of a xed module. Based on the IV curves of a photovoltaic (PV)
module, a novel and simple model is proposed to predict the PV

0306-2619/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2008.09.003
698 S. Dubey et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 697705
Nomenclature
b width of PV module (m)
L length of PV module (m)
C specic heat (J/kg C)
h heat transfer coefcient (W/m2 C)
hp1, hp2 penalty factor due to the glass cover of PV module
(dimensionless)
I(t) incident solar intensity (W/m2)
IL load current (A)
Isc short circuit current (A)
K thermal conductivity (W/m K)
m_ rate of ow of air (kg/s)
T temperature (C)
Utc,a an overall heat transfer coefcient from solar cell to
ambient through glass cover (W/m2 C)
UTc,f an overall heat transfer coefcient from solar cell to
owing air through glass cover/tedlar (W/m2 C)
Ub an overall back loss coefcient from owing air/plate to
ambient (W/m2 C)
UL an overall heat transfer coefcient for glass to glass and
glass to tedlar modules (W/m2 C)
VL load voltage (V)
Voc open circuit voltage (V)
module performance for engineering applications. PV module per-
formance is mainly depends upon solar-irradiance intensity and PV
module temperature [18].
Tiwari et al. [19] have validated the theoretical and experimen-
tal results for photovoltaic (PV) module integrated with air duct for
composite climate of India and concluded that an overall thermal
efciency of PV/T system is signicantly increased due to utiliza-
tion of thermal energy from PV module. Tripanagnostopoulos
[20] presented a new type of PV/T collector with dual heat extrac-
tion operation with aspects and improvements of hybrid PV/T solar
energy systems. Design of PV integrated solar-collector for natural
circulation of water is presented by He et al. [21].
The methodology for the analytical treatment of the reliability of
PV systems is proposed by Hamdy et al. [22]. The method depends
upon the logic of the fault-tree technique. The reliabilities of the dif-
ferent components of a PV system are used to predict the reliability
of the overall system. The performance analysis of a photovoltaic
heat pump is presented by Jie et al. [23], in this system the PV/T col-
lector is coupled with a solar assisted heat pump and works as an
evaporator and found that the photovoltaic solar assisted heat
pump (PV-SAHP) has better coefcient of performance (COP) and
photovoltaic efciency than the separate units. The COP of the
PV-SAHP reached 8.4 and the average value was around 6.5,
whereas the average photovoltaic efciency was around 13.4%.
Muntasser et al. [24] describes the Photovoltaic marketing in
developing countries and examine marketing opportunities for
PV technologies in less-developed countries, which were previ-
ously dominated by the industrialized countries and concludes
by making a global policy package proposal, in terms of an appeal
on the global community concerned with PV to propagate this pro-
posal more convincingly, perhaps to emanate from an internation-
ally recognized forum, like a PV conference and exhibition, with
cooperation and participation of PV manufacturers, suppliers,
industrialized countries, NGOs, nancial institutions and develop-
ing countries. Recently, Zondag [25] carried out rigorous review
on research work of a PVthermal collector and system, carried
out by various scientists till 2006. His review includes the history
and importance of photovoltaic hybrid system and its application
in various sectors. It also includes characteristics equations, study
of design parameters, and marketing, etc.
V, v air velocity (m/s)
go efciency at standard test condition (I(t) = 1000 W/m2
and Ta = 25 C) (dimensionless)
g temperature dependent efciency (dimensionless)
Subscripts
a ambient
c solar cell
eff effective
f uid (air)
fi inlet uid
fo outgoing uid
g glass
p blackened plate
T tedlar
Greek symbols
a absorptivity
(as)eff product of effective absorptivity and transmittivity
b packing factor
s transmitivity
In this paper, two types of PV module, glass to glass and glass to
tedlar, with and without duct are considered for the study. The so-
lar intensity based analytical expression of electrical efciency of
PV modules are derived and performance are evaluated by consid-
ering four types of weather condition of New Delhi, which are
dened as:
Type a: The ratio of daily diffuse to daily global radiation is less
than or equal to 0.25 and sunshine hours greater then or equal to
9 h.
Type b: The ratio of daily diffuse to daily global radiation
between 0.25 and 0.50 and sunshine hours between 7 and 9 h.
Type c: The ratio of daily diffuse to daily global radiation
between 0.50 and 0.75 and sunshine hours between 5 and 7 h.
Type d: The ratio of daily diffuse to daily global radiation is
greater than or equal to 0.75 and sunshine hours less then or
equal to 5 h.
Data of solar radiations for different climates are obtained from
Indian Metrological Department (IMD), Pune. The both type of
PV module is manufactured by Central Electronics Ltd. (CEL),
Sahibabad, Ghaziabad (UP).
2. Thermal analysis of PV modules
Two types of PV module, glass to glass and glass to tedlar with
and without duct are considered for the present study. PV modules
are tilted at 30, equal to the latitude of New Delhi. The cut sec-
tional views of PV modules with duct are shown in Fig. 1. Wooden
duct is embedded below the PV modules for air circulation having
a cross section of 0.605 m  1.0 m  0.04 m. In case of with ow/
duct air is owing in forced mode with the help of a DC fan of
12 V, which is run by PV module. In order to write the energy bal-
ance equation of photovoltaic modules, the following assumptions
have been made:
 One dimensional heat conduction is good approximation for the
present study.
 The glass cover is at uniform temperature.
 There is stream line ow of air through the duct.
 S. Dubey et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 697705 699

  
g go 1  bo T c  T a 1c
(ii) For blackened absorber plate:
h i  
ap 1  bc s2g It b dx hp;f T p  T f U bp;a T p  T a b dx 2a

2 3 2 3
The rate of solarenergy The rate of heat
6 available on blackened 7 6 transferfrom 7
6 7 6 7
6 76 7
4 surfacefrom non packing 5 4 blackened plate 5
area of PV module to flowing fluid
2 3
An overall heat
4 loss from plate 5
to ambient

From Eq. (2a), the expression for plate temperature is

ap 1  bc s2g It hp;f T f U bp;a T a

Tp 2b
U bp;a hp;f
(iii) For air owing through the duct:
The energy balance of owing air through absorber pipe is given
by

dT f  
_ aCa
m dx hp;f T p  T f U Tc;f T c  T f b dx 3
dx
Fig. 1. (a) Cut sectional view of glass to glass PV module with duct. (b) Cut sectional 2 3
2 3 The rate ofheat
view of glass to tedlar PV module with duct. The mass flow 6 transfer from 7
4 rate offlowing 5 6 7
4 blackened plate to 5
fluid
flowing fluid
 The system is in quasi-steady state. 2 3
An overall heat
 The ohmic losses in the solar cell are negligible.
transfer from cell 5
4
to flowing fluid
The energy balance equations for glass to glass and glass to ted-
lar PV modules are as follows. The solution of Eq. (3) with the help of Eqs. (1b) and (2b) and
initial conditions namely, at T f jx0 , Tf = T1 and at T f jxL , Tf = Tfo1,
2.1. Case A: glass to glass PV module with duct (Fig. 1a) we get,
   
(i) For solar cells of PV module: asGG;eff It bU L;GG L
T fo T a 1  exp 
Following Dubey and Tiwari [26], the energy balance equation U L;GG m_ aCa
for solar cell of PV module can be written as 
bU L;GG L
  T fi exp  4a
ac sg bc Itb dx U tc;a T c  T a U Tc;f T c  T f b dx m_ aCa

sg gac bc Itb dx 1a The average air temperature over the length of air duct below
PV module is obtained as
2 3
2 3
An overall heat 2 3 Z
The rate of solar 6 lossfrom top 7 The rate of heat 1 L
6 7 6 7 6 7 Tf T f dx
4 energy available 5 6 7 4 transfer from cell 5 L 0
4 surface of cell 5 2
3
on solar cell to flowing fluid   bU L
to ambient asGG;eff It 1  exp  m_L;GG a Ca
2 3 T a 41  5 T fi
The rate of U L;GG bU L;GG L
m_ a Ca
6 7

4 electrical energy 5 bU L
produced 1  exp  m_L;GG a Ca
 bU L
4b
L;GG
From Eq. (1a), the expression for cell temperature is _ a Ca
m

sg ac bc 1  gIt U tc;a T a U Tc;f T f If T = Ta and T f T f , then from Eqs. (1b), (1c), and (4b), the expres-
Tc 1b
U tc;a U bc;f sion for temperature dependent electrical efciency can be obtained
An expression for temperature dependent electrical efciency as
of a PV module Schott [27] and Evans [28] is given by where X o bUm_LGG L
.
a Ca

h n  
o i
go 1  Utc;asgU
bo
Tc;f
ac bc UUL;GG
Tc;f
hp1 ac bc hp2 ap 1  bc sg 1  1expX
Xo
o
It
g go bo sg bc ac It

U hp1

 5
1 U tc;a U Tc;f
1 UTc;f
L;GG
1  1expX
Xo
o
700 S. Dubey et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 697705

2.2. Case B: glass to glass PV module without duct U T T c  T bs b dx hT T bs  T f b dx 9a

2 3 2 3
(i) For solar cells of PV module: An overall heat The rate of heat transfer
Following Dubey and Tiwari [26], the energy balance equation 4 transfer from cell to 5 4 from back surface of the 5
for solar cell of PV module can be written as back surface of tedlar tedlar to flowing fluid
  Using Eqs. (8b) and (9a), the expression for back surface tempera-
sg ac bc sg 1  bc Itb dx U tc;a T c  T a U b T c  T a b dx
ture of PV module can be obtained as
sg gac bc Itb dx 6a
hp1 sg ac bc aT 1  bc  ac gbc It U tT T a hT T f
T bs 9b
2 3 U tT hT
2 3 An overall heat
The rate of solar 6 7 (iii) For the air owing below the tedlar:
6 7 6 lossfrom top 7
4 energy available 5 6
6
7
7 _ aCa
m
dT f
dx U b T f  T a b dx hT T bs  T f b dx 10
4 surface of cell 5 dx
on PV module
to ambient 2 3 2 3
2 3 2 3 The mass flow An overall heat transfer
An overall heat The rate of 4 rate offlowing 5 4 from flowing fluid to 5
6 7 6 7 fluid ambient
4 loss from back side 5 4 electrical energy 5
2 3
of the cell produced The rate of heat transfer
4 from back surface of the 5
From Eq. (6a), the expression for cell temperature is tedlar to flowing fluid
The solution of Eq. (11a) with the help of Eqs. (9b) and (10) and ini-
h i tial conditions namely, at T f jx0 , Tf = T1 and at T f jxL , Tf = Tfo1, we get,
asGG;eff  sg gac bc It U tc;a T a U b T a    
hp1 hp2 asGT;eff It bU L;GT L
Tc 6b T fo Ta 1  exp 
U tc;a U b U L;GT m_ aCa

bU L;GT L
From Eqs. (1c) and (6b), the expression for the efciency of glass to T fi exp  11a
_ aCa
m
glass PV module can be obtained as
The average air temperature over the length of air duct below
h i
bo asGG;eff It PV module is obtained as 2
3
go 1  U tc;a U b Z   bU L
g 7 1 L hp1 hp2 asGT;eff It 1  exp  m_L;GTa Ca
1
bo go sg ac bc It Tf T f dx T a 41  bU L;GT L
5
U tc;a U b L 0 U L;GT
m_ a Ca


bU L
1  exp  m_L;GT
2.3. Case C: glass to tedlar PV module with duct (Fig. 1b) T fi
a Ca
11b
bU L L;GT
_ a Ca
m
(i) For solar cells of PV module:
If T = Ta and T f T f , then from Eqs. (1c), (8b), (9b), and (11b), the
Following Tiwari and Sodha [29], the energy balance equation
expression for temperature dependent electrical efciency can be
for solar cell of PV module can be written as
obtained as

   
bo sg ac bc aT 1  bc It U T hp1 U T hT hp1 hp2 1  expX o
go 1  1 1
U tc;a U T hT U tT hT U tT U L;GT Xo
g    12
bo go sg ac bc It U T hp1 U T hT hp1 hp2 1  expX o
1 1 1
U tc;a U T hT U tT hT U tT U L;GT Xo

sg ac bc aT 1  bc Itb dx U tc;a T c  T a U T T c  T bs b dx where X o bUm_LGG

a Ca
L
.
sg gac bc Itb dx 8a
2.4. Case D: glass to tedlar PV module without duct
2 3
2 An overall heat
3
The rate of solar 6 7 (i) For solar cells of PV module:
6 7 6 lossfrom top 7 Following Tiwari and Sodha [29], the energy balance equation
6 energy available 7 6 7
4 5 6 6 surface of cell 7
7 for solar cell of PV module can be written as
4 5
on PV module sg ac bc aT 1  bc Itb dx U tc;a T c  T a U b T c  T a b dx
to ambient
2 3 2 3 sg gac bc Itb dx 13a
An overall heat The rate of
6 7 6 7 2 3
6 7 6 7 2 3 An overall heat
4 transfer from cell to 5 4 electrical energy 5 The rate of solar 6 7
6 7 6 loss from top 7
back surface of tedlar produced 4 energy available 5 6 7
4 surface of cell 5
on PV module
From Eq. (8a), the expression for cell temperature is to ambient
2 3 2 3
An overall heat The rate of
sg ac bc aT 1  bc  ac gbc It U tc;a T a U T T bs 6 7 6 7
4 loss from back side 5 4 electrical energy 5
Tc 8b
U tc;a U T of the cell produced
(ii) For the back surface of the tedlar:
 S. Dubey et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 697705 701

From Eq. (13a), the expression for cell temperature is 2.6. Correlation coefcient and root mean square percent deviation
h i
asGT;eff  sg gac bc It U tc;a T a U b T a To compare the theoretical and experimental results the corre-
Tc 13b lation coefcient (r) and root mean square percent deviation (e)
U tc;a U b
have been evaluated by using the following expressions:
From Eqs. (1c) and (13b), the expression for the efciency of glass to P P P
N X i Y i  X i Y i
glass PV module can be obtained as r q
P P q
P P 16a
N X 2i  X i 2 N Y 2i  Y i 2
h i
go 1  bo aUstc;a
GT;eff It
U b And
g bo go sg ac bc It
14
s
1 U tc;a U b P 2
ei
e 16b
In addition to the above equations the relations used for den- N
ing the design parameters (Table 1) and different conguration of
glass to glass and glass to tedlar PV modules with and without duct where
 
are given in Appendix. Xi  Y i
ei  100
Xi
2.5. Electrical efciency of PV module
900 40
Experimental efciency of PV module can be calculated as
800 35

Ambient temperature,C
2
0:8  V oc  Isc  IL  V L

Solar intensity, W/m

700 30
gexp 15
Am  It 600
25
500
20
where 0.8 is the ll factor or power factor, it measure of sharpness 400
of the knee in IV curve. It indicates how well a junction was made 300
15
in the cell and how low the series resistance has been made. It can I(t)
200 10
be lowered by the presence of series resistance and tends to be Ta
100 5
higher whenever the open circuit voltage is high.
0 0
09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00

Time (Hours)

Table 1 Fig. 2. Hourly variation of solar intensity and ambient temperature for the month
Design parameters of glass to glass and glass to tedlar, with and without duct of PV of April, 2008.
modules

Parameters Values
b 0.605 m Glass to glass withduct Glass to tedlar withduct
ho 7.6 W/m2 K Glass to glass without duct Glass to tedlar without duct

L 1.0 m 12.0
Eletrical efficiency, %

m_a 0.0058 kg/s

Ca 1005 J/kg K 11.0
Utc,a 7.44 W/m2 K
ac 0.9 10.0
ap 0.8
aT 0.5 9.0
bc 0.83
bo 0.0045 8.0
go 0.12 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
sg 0.95
Time (Hours)
Glass to glass with duct
hp1 0.536 Fig. 3. Hourly variation of electrical efciency considering with and without duct.
hp2 0.934
Kg 1.1 W/m K
Lg 0.003 m
UTc,f 8.59 W/m2 K Efficiency (Glass to glass) Efficiency (Glass to tedlar)
UL,GG 4.56 W/m2 K Cell temp. (Glass to glass) Cell temp. (Glass to tedlar)
Ubp,a 0.62 W/m2 K
12.0 90.0
Electrical Efficiency, %

Glass to glass without duct

Cell temperature,C

2 11.5 80.0
Ub 3.36 W/m K
11.0
Glass to tedlar with duct 70.0
10.5
hp1 0.898 60.0
hp2 0.54 10.0
KT 0.033 W/m K 50.0
9.5
LT 0.0005 m 40.0
9.0
UT 66 W/m2 K
UtT 6.68 W/m2 K 8.5 30.0
UL,GT 4.42 W/m2 K 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
Ubf,a 0.62 W/m2 K Time (Hours)
Glass to glass without duct
Ub 3.23 W/m2 K Fig. 4. Hourly variation of electrical efciency and cell temperature considering
with duct.
702 S. Dubey et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 697705

a With Duct (Glass to Glass) b Without Duct (Glass to Glass)

12.0 e= 3.92 12.0 Theoretical

Theoretical e= 4.19
Electrical Efficiency, %

r = 0.838

Electrical Efficiency, %
Experimental Experimental r = 0.827
11.0
11.0

10.0

10.0
9.0

9.0 8.0
09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
Time (Hours) Time (Hours)

c With Duct (Glass to Tedlar) d Without Duct (Glass to Tedlar)

12.0 12.0

Electrical Efficiency, %
Theoretical e= 3.87
Electrical Efficiency, %

Theoretical e= 3.41
Experimental r= 0.806 Experimental r= 0.849
11.0
11.0

10.0

10.0
9.0

9.0 8.0
09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00

Time (Hours) Time (Hours)

Fig. 5. (a) Hourly variation of electrical efciency considering with duct. (b) Hourly variation of electrical efciency considering without duct. (c) Hourly variation of electrical
efciency considering with duct. (d) Hourly variation of electrical efciency considering without duct.

3. Result and discussion decrease in efciency of module. In case B and D (modules without
duct) efciency is nearly same. Hourly variation of electrical
The variation of solar intensity and ambient temperature for a
typical day in the month of April 2008 for New Delhi condition is
shown in Fig. 2. The values of various parameters (design parame- a type
b type
ters) of PV modules are given in Table 1. In this paper, the results of
the four cases, case A (Glass to glass PV module with duct), case B a c type
d type
12.0
(Glass to glass PV module without duct), case C (Glass to tedlar PV
Electrical Efficiency, %

module with duct), case D (Glass to tedlar PV module without

duct) are discussed in details. 11.0
Experimental electrical efciency of PV module for all the four
cases are evaluated by using Eq. (15) and the variations are shown
in Fig. 3. Glass to glass type PV module with duct gives higher ef- 10.0
ciency than the glass to tedlar type PV module. This is due to the
radiation falling on non-packing area of glass to glass module is
transmitted through the glass cover, however, in case of glass to 9.0
09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
tedlar all the radiation is absorbed by the tedlar and then heat is
carried away by the conduction. So that the temperature of the so- Time (Hours)
lar cell is higher in case of glass to tedlar type PV module, result in b
Daily avg. electrical efficiency, %

12.0

V = 0.5 m/s (GG) V = 0.5 m/s (GT) V = 1 m/s (GG) 11.17

V= 1 m/s (GT) V= 2 m/s (GG) V= 2 m/s (GG) 11.0
10.65
Avg. air temperature,C

75
70
65 10.0 9.86
9.73
60
55
50
45 9.0
40 Type a Type b Type c Type d
35 Weather conditions
09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
Time (Hours) Fig. 7. (a) Hourly variation of electrical efciency for a, b, c, d type weather
conditions considering glass to glass PV module with duct. (b) Daily average of
Fig. 6. Hourly variation of average air temperature over the length of duct by electrical efciency for a, b, c, d type weather conditions considering glass to glass
varying the mass ow rate; glass to glass (GG) and glass to tedlar (GT). PV module with duct.
 S. Dubey et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 697705 703

a
11.0
Annual Avg. = 10.41 %

Monthly avg. electrical efficiency, %

10.5

10.0

9.5

9.0
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Month of year
b
10.5
Annual Avg. = 9.75 %
Monthly avg. electrical efficiency, %

10.0

9.5

9.0

8.5

8.0
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Month of year

Fig. 8. (a) Monthly average of electrical efciency considering a, b, c, d type weather conditions for glass to glass PV module with duct. (b) Monthly average of electrical
efciency considering a, b, c, d type weather conditions for glass to glass PV module without duct.

efciency and cell temperature for case A and case B with duct
are shown in Fig. 4. Figure shows that as the temperature in-
creases efciency decreases and as the temperature decreases ef-
ciency increases, as expected. This result is in accordance with the
results reported by earlier researchers, Zondag et al. [15] and
Chow [16].
Eqs. (5) and (6) has been used for calculating the theoretical
efciency of glass to glass type PV module with and without duct.
Experimental results are validated with the theoretical results and
the variations are shown in Fig. 5a and b. Similarly, Eqs. (12) and
(14) has been used for calculating the theoretical efciency of glass
to tedlar type PV module with and without duct. The variations be-
tween experimental and theoretical results are shown in Fig. 5c
and d. The correlation coefcient (r) and root mean square percent
deviation (e) is also evaluated using Eqs. (16a) and (16b), respec-
tively which are shown in the same gure. It is observed that there
is a fair agreement between theoretical and experimental values of
all the four cases. The correlation coefcient (r) and root mean
square percent deviation (e) is varies from 4.19 to 3.41 and 0.849
to 0.806, respectively.
Eqs. (4b) and (11b) has been used for evaluating the average air
temperature over the length of air duct by varying the mass ow
rate for case A and case C. It is observed that the average air tem-
perature is higher in case of A than case C, due to the solar radia-
tion is transmitted through the glass cover (non-packing area)
and absorbed by the blackened plate (below the module). In this
case the heat is convected to the owing air by two ways from back
surface of PV module as well as from top surface of the blackened
plate. The variation is shown in Fig. 6.
Hourly variation of electrical efciency of glass to glass type PV
module with duct for a, b, c, and d type weather conditions is shown
in Fig. 7a. Figure shows that as the solar intensity decreases (from a
type to d type) the temperature of solar cell is also decreases and
efciency increases. The same results are also obtained for daily
average efciency of a, b, c, and d type weather conditions which
is shown in Fig. 7b. Monthly average electrical efciency by consid-
ering a, b, c, d type weather conditions of New Delhi for glass to
glass type PV module with and without duct are calculated and
the variation is shown in Fig. 8a and b. The annual average ef-
ciency of PV module with and without duct is 10.41% and 9.75%,
respectively. The monthly average efciency is calculated by multi-
plying the number of days belongs to each type of weather condi-
tion of that month and taking the average of all days of that
month. And then the average of 12 months gives the annual average
efciency of PV module.
4. Conclusion
1. In this paper, four different congurations of two types of PV
modules, glass to glass and glass to tedlar are studied.
2. The percentage difference between electrical efciency (Dg) of
glass to glass and glass to tedlar type PV modules with and
without duct are 0.24% and 0.086%, respectively.
704 S. Dubey et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 697705

3. The percentage difference between electrical efciency (Dg) (iv) Glass to tedlar PV module without duct:
of glass to glass type PV modules with and without duct is
asGT;eff sg ac bc aT 1  bc 
0.66%.
4. This 0.66% difference of electrical efciency could be very large  1
if it is used in large PV plants and simultaneously fullling the Lg 1
U tc;a
requirement of electricity generation and thermal heating with K g ho
better efciency. ho 5:7 3:8V; V 0:5 m=s
 1
LT 1
Ub
K T hi
Appendix A
hi 2:8 3v; v 0:2 m=s
In modelling equations, we used following relations for dening The values of ac, aT, bc, go, ap and sg are taken from Dufe and
the design parameters, which are shown in Table 1. Beckman [30], Tiwari [31] and Tiwari and Sodha [32].
(i) Glass to glass PV module with duct:
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