An Experimental Study on the Effect of Fluid Temperature on the Performance of a PV-T Collector

Abstract

Nowadays, heat energy and the photovoltaic (PV) principle are widely used for generating electric power. PVpanels can convert a limited portion of the solar radiation falling on them into electric power. Photovoltaicthermal (PV-T) systems are used in order to remove and evaluate the heat load caused by the solar radiation. Inthis study, an experimental setup was developed to compare PV and PV-T collectors. Through the experimentalstudy, not only the collectors were compared but also the effect of the circulating water temperature on PV-Tcollector was investigated. The working fluid used in the PV-T collector was water. The results obtained fromthe experiments have shown that the electrical and thermal efficiency of PV-T collector is higher than that ofthe PV collector under the climatic conditions in Adana, Turkey, and that solar radiation has a significant impacton the performance of the collectors, and that the decrease in water temperature used in the PV-T collector hasincreased the electrical generation capacity, electrical energy efficiency as well as total efficiency.