Performance Evaluation of Solar Photovoltaic / Thermal (PV/T) System

Solar photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system consists of PV module coupled with heat extracting media such as water. Solar (PV/T) collector at the same time produces both thermal energy and electricity. The electrical output of a photovoltaic module drops as its surface temperature increases. Solar PV/T systems design aims to reduce the operating temperature of PV modules and to keep the electrical output at adequate level. When there is temperature change in any process, there is a loss of exergy. In comparison, exergy efficiency is lower for electricity generation using the considered PV module, ranging from 8 % to 10 %. It is observed that photovoltaic module temperature has a considerable effect on the various efficiencies of the system such as thermal, electrical or exergy efficiency. The increase in operating temperature of the system also affects the properties of material used in manufacturing of PV module. The electrical efficiency can be improved if the heat can be removed from the surface of photovoltaic module and at the same time it also improves other efficiencies. In this paper the performance analysis including all aspects i. e. electrical, thermal and exergy efficiency are discussed. Mass flow rate of coolant fluid also plays an important role in heat extraction from photovoltaic module. In this paper the analysis of performance of solar (PV/T) system is done by varying mass flow rate of coolant fluid.