Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this work is to determine and compare a PVT, PV panels and thermal collector’s theoretical performances. Methods/Statistical Analysis: These different performances had been determined by establishing thermal balances at different levels of the system. The obtained equations had been discretized; simplifying hypotheses had been issued to ease their resolution. We adopted the Cholesky method using MATLAB software to solve these equations. The electrical, thermal and global efficiencies had been obtained. Comparisons based on these results had been made on these different panels. Findings: The temperature evolution of the system shows a heat-up of the PV cells. In the other hand, a speed increase of the wind brings a cooling of the collector. The increase of the coolant flow implies a decrease of the coolant temperature. This parameter, usually downplayed, showed to be very important. The profile of power curves show that hybrid panel’s power is superior to simple PV panel and its thermal power is inferior to that of a thermal collector. However, the global efficiency of the hybrid panel is the highest. Most of these results confirm those of the literature while other results bring more information. Application/Improvements: Such a system could allow collecting the heat produced by the PV panels for water heating systems and more, with an optimization of the coolant flow for a better result.

Keywords: Efficiency, Power, PV Panel, PVT Panel, Thermal Collector