Solar Energy 81 (2007) 11171131 www.elsevier.

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Aspects and improvements of hybrid photovoltaic/thermal solar energy systems

Y. Tripanagnostopoulos
*
Physics Department, University of Patras, Patra 26500, Greece Received 14 August 2006; received in revised form 9 April 2007; accepted 9 April 2007 Available online 11 May 2007 Communicated by: Associate Editor Jean-Louis Scartezzini

Abstract Hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T or PVT) solar systems consist of PV modules coupled to water or air heat extraction devices, which convert the absorbed solar radiation into electricity and heat. At the University of Patras, an extended research on PV/T systems has been performed aiming at the study of several modications for system performance improvement. In this paper a new type of PV/T collector with dual heat extraction operation, either with water or with air circulation is presented. This system is simple and suitable for building integration, providing hot water or air depending on the season and the thermal needs of the building. Experiments with dual type PV/T models of alternative arrangement of the water and the air heat exchanging elements were performed. The most eective design was further studied, applying to it low cost modications for the air heat extraction improvement. These modications include a thin metallic sheet placed in the middle of the air channel, the mounting of ns on the opposite wall to PV rear surface of the air channel and the placement of the sheet combined with small ribs on the opposite air channel wall. The modied dual PV/T collectors were combined with booster diuse reectors, achieving a signicant increase in system thermal and electrical energy output. The improved PV/T systems have aesthetic and energy advantages and could be used instead of separate installation of plain PV modules and thermal collectors, mainly if the available building surface is limited and the thermal needs are associated with low temperature water or air heating. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Photovoltaics (PV) convert, depending on cell type, 5 15% of the incoming solar radiation into electricity, with the greater percentage converted into heat. The solar radiation increases the temperature of PV modules, resulting in a drop of their electrical eciency. For system installation in parallel rows on horizontal roofs of buildings, the exposure of both PV module surfaces to the ambient permits their natural cooling, but in fac ade or inclined roof installation the thermal losses are reduced and PV modules operate at higher temperatures. This undesirable eect can be partially avoided by applying a suitable heat extraction mode with a uid circulation, keeping the electrical e*

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ciency at a satisfactory level. The PV modules that are combined with thermal units, where circulating air or water of lower temperature than that of PV module is heated, constitute the hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T or PVT) systems and provide electrical and thermal energy, increasing therefore the total energy output from PV modules. The PV/T solar systems can be eectively used in the domestic and in the industrial sector, mainly for preheating water or air. The water-cooled PV modules (PVT/water systems) consist of a water heat exchanger in thermal contact with the PV rear side and are suitable for water heating, space heating and other applications (Fig. 1, left). Air-cooled PV modules (PVT/air systems) can be integrated on building roofs and fac ades and apart of the electrical load they can cover building heating and air ventilation needs (Fig. 1, right). PV/T solar collectors integrated on building roofs and facades can replace separate

0038-092X/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.solener.2007.04.002

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PV/T designs are suggested to increase system total energy output by using low cost additional system elements. 2. Literature on PV/T systems Theoretical and experimental studies are referred to hybrid PV/T systems with air and/or water heat extraction from PV modules. Kern and Russel (1978) present the design and performance of water and air cooled PV/T systems, while Hendrie (1979) and Florschuetz (1979) include PV/T modeling in their works. Numerical methods predicting PV/T system performance are developed by Raghuraman (1981), computer simulations are studied by Cox and Raghuraman (1985), a low cost PV/T system with transparent type a-Si cells is proposed by Lalovic et al. (19861987) and results from an applied air type PV/T system are given by Loferski et al. (1988). Bhargava et al. (1991), Prakash (1994), Garg and Agarwal (1995) present the same aspects of a water type PV/T system and Sopian et al. (1996) and Garg and Adhikari (1997) present a variety of results regarding the eect of design and operation parameters on the performance of air type PV/T systems. Because of their easier construction and operation, hybrid PV/T systems with air heat extraction are more extensively studied, mainly as an alternative and cost eective solution to building integrated PV systems (BIPV). Following the above referred studies, test results from PV/T systems with improved air heat extraction are given by Ricaud and Roubeau (1994) and from roof integrated air-cooled PV modules by Yang et al. (1994). Regarding building integrated PV/T systems, Posnansky et al. (1994), Ossenbrink et al. (1994) and Moshfegh et al. (1995) include in their works considerations and results on these systems. Later, Brinkworth et al. (1997), Moshfegh and Sandberg (1998), Schroer et al. (1998), Brinkworth (2000), and also Brinkworth et al. (2000) present design and performance studies regarding air type building integrated hybrid PV/T systems. In addition, the work of Eicker et al. (2000), which gives monitoring results from a BIPV PV/T system that operates during winter for space heating and during summer for active cooling and of Bazilian et al. (2001), which evaluates the practical use of several PV/T systems with air heat extraction in the built environment, can be referred. The building integrated photovoltaics is going to be a sector of a wider PV module application and the works of Hegazy (2000), Lee et al. (2001), Chow et al. (2003) and Ito and Miura (2003) give interesting modeling results on air cooled PV modules. Last years, the works on building integrated air-cooled photovoltaics include the studies on the multi-operational ventilated PVs with solar air collectors (Cartmell et al., 2004), the ventilated building PV facades (Ineld et al., 2004; Guiavarch and Peuportier, 2006; Charron and Athienitis, 2006) and the design procedure for cooling air ducts to minimize eciency loss (Brinkworth and Sandberg, 2006). Despite these improvements, commercial application of PVT/air collectors is still

Fig. 1. Cross section of the main PV/T geometries, PVT/water (left) and PVT/air (right), regarding unglazed (up) and glazed (down) types.

installation of thermal collectors and photovoltaics, resulting to cost eective and aesthetic application of solar energy systems. An additional glazing for thermal loss reduction (Fig. 1, down) increases thermal output but decreases the electricity production due to the additional optical losses. In PV/T system applications the production of electricity is the main priority, therefore it is necessary to operate the PV modules at low temperature in order to keep PV cell electrical eciency at a sucient level. This requirement limits the eective operation range of the PV/T unit for low temperatures, thus, the extracted heat can be used mainly for low temperature applications such as space heating, water or air preheating and natural ventilation in buildings. Water-cooled PV/T systems are practical systems for water heating in domestic buildings but their application is limited up to now. Air-cooled PV/T systems have already been applied in buildings, integrated usually on their inclined roofs or fac ades. These systems keep the electrical output at sucient level, covering building space heating needs during winter and ventilation needs during summer, avoiding also building overheating. In this paper design aspects for PV/T collectors and test results from PVT/air prototypes with improved performance regarding a new system design based on dual heat extraction operation, are presented. This work follows some other studies on hybrid PV/T systems (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2000, 2001a, 2002a) and the new system can heat water or air. Considering water as heat removal uid the system can be used for preheating water in residential buildings, hotels, hospitals, etc and regarding air heat extraction, for space heating, natural ventilation, etc. This concept has been introduced by Tripanagnostopoulos et al. (2001b) and can be applied to small and large PV/T installations on buildings. The use of air or water heat extraction depends on building thermal needs, the system operation regarding temperature level and heat removal uid type and also considering the weather conditions. Aiming to the improvement of electrical and thermal output of the PV/T systems, new modications in the air-duct for the air circulation have been investigated in order to improve the heat extraction. All experimental PV/T models were tested outdoors and also combined with booster diuse reector for eective operation on horizontal building roof installation, mainly from spring to fall. The presented new

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marginal, but it is expected to be wider in the future where many building facades and inclined roofs will be covered with photovoltaics. PVT/water systems are more expensive than PVT/air systems due to additional cost of the thermal unit with the pipes for the water circulation. On the other hand water from mains does not often exceeds 20 C and ambient air is usually higher during summer in low latitude countries and water heat extraction is of more practical value at these locations as it can be used during all seasons. The liquid type hybrid PV/T systems are less studied than air type systems and the works that follow the rst period of PV/T system development are the study of Bergene and Lovvik (1995) for a detailed analysis on liquid type PV/T systems, of Elazari (1998) for the design, performance and economic aspects of a commercial type PV/T water heater, of Hausler and Rogash (2000) for a latent heat storage PV/T system and of Kalogirou (2001) with TRNSYS results for water type PV/T systems. Later, Huang et al. (2001) present a PV/T system with hot water storage and Sandness and Rekstad (2002) give results for PV/T collectors with polymer absorber. The combination of solar radiation concentration devices with PV modules is up to now the most viable method to reduce system cost, replacing the expensive cells with a cheaper solar radiation concentrating system. Besides, concentrating photovoltaics present higher eciency than the typical ones, but this can be achieved in an eective way by keeping PV module temperature as low as possible. The concentrating solar systems use reective and refractive optical devices and are characterized by their concentration ratio (CR). Concentrating systems with CR > 2.5 must use a system to track the sun, while for systems with CR < 2.5, stationary concentrating devices can be used (Winston, 1974). The distribution of the solar radiation on the absorber surface (PV module) and the temperature rise of it are two problems that aect the electrical output. The uniform distribution of the concentrated solar radiation on the PV surface and the suitable cooling mode contribute to an eective system operation and the achievement of high electrical output. PV/T absorbers can be combined with low, medium or high concentration devices, but low CR PV/T systems have been mainly developed so far. Reectors of low concentration, either of at type as presented by Sharan et al. (1985), Al Baali (1986), and Garg et al. (1991a) or of CPC type as proposed by Garg and Adhikari (1999), Brogren et al. (2000), Karlsson et al. (2001), Brogren et al. (2002) and Othman et al. (2005), have been suggested to increase the thermal and electrical output of PV/T systems. Regarding medium concentration, PV/T systems based on linear parabolic reectors (Coventy, 2005) or linear Fresnel reectors (Rosell et al., 2005) have been investigated. Although concentrators of low or medium CR are interesting devices to be combined with photovoltaics, 3D Fresnel lens or reector type concentrators have been recently developed, aiming at the market of concentrating photovoltaics.

Dynamic 3D and steady state 3D, 2D and 1D models for PV/T prototypes with water heat extraction have been studied by Zondag et al. (2002), systems with water circulation in channels attached to PV modules have been suggested, also by Zondag et al. (2003). Regarding recent works, modelling results (Chow, 2003; Jie et al., 2003), the study on domestic PV/T systems (Coventry and Lovegrove, 2003), the performance and cost results of a roofsized PV/T system (Bakker et al., 2005) and the theoretical approach for domestic heating and cooling with PV/T collectors (Vokas et al., 2006) and the performance evaluation results (Tiwari and Sodha, 2006), can be referred. PVT/ water collectors can replace thermal collectors for water heating in the domestic and industrial sectors, but they are not yet cost eective and this is the main reason for their niche market penetration. Economic aspects on PV/T systems are given by Leenders et al. (2000) and the environmental impact of PV modules by using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has been extensively used at University of Rome La Sapienza. Frankl et al. (2000) presented LCA results on the comparison of PV/T systems with standard PV and thermal systems, thus conrming the environmental advantage of PV/T system compared to plain PV modules (shorter energy payback time). Design and performance improvements of hybrid PV/T systems with water or air as heat removal uid have been carried out at the University of Patras including modications that contribute to the decrease of PV module temperature and to improve the total energy output (electrical and thermal) of the PV/T systems. Design concepts, prototypes and test results for water and air-cooled PV/T systems with and without additional glass cover are extensively presented in Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2002a. Also, PV/T solar water heaters of ICS (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 1998) and of thermosiphonic (Tselepis and Tripanagnostopoulos, 2002) type have been studied. The diuse reector is suggested to increase both electrical and thermal output of PV/T systems (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2002a) and LCA results for PVT/water (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2005) and PVT/air (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2006) systems, compared with standard PV modules, give an idea about the positive environmental impact of the suggested systems. The concept of combined linear Fresnel lenses with PV/T absorbers has been also investigated, proposed for lighting and temperature control of internal spaces, providing also electrical and thermal output for later use (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2007). In addition, the application of PV/T systems in the industry is suggested as a viable solution for a wider use of solar energy systems (Battisti and Tripanagnostopoulos, 2005) and TRNSYS results for PVT/water collectors, calculated for three dierent latitudes (Kalogirou and Tripanagnostopoulos, 2006) and a study on PVT/air collectors with air heat extraction (Tonui and Tripanagnostopoulos, 2007a,b) give recently a gure of the investigated system application and their performance improvements respectively. A detailed description

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of hybrid PV/T solar systems is included in a recently published Roadmap (Zontag et al., 2005; Aolter et al., 2006), where many aspects regarding technology, present status and future perspectives of these solar energy conversion systems are presented. 3. Application aspects for PV/T systems 3.1. General aspects PVT/water systems are practical devices for water heating, but they are not yet improved enough for cost eective commercial applications. There are several suggested modes for the water circulation and the heat extraction, but more practical is considered to circulate water through pipes in contact with a at sheet, placed in thermal contact with the PV module rear surface. Regarding air type PV/T systems, an air channel is usually mounted at the back of the PV modules. Air of lower temperature than that of PV modules, usually ambient air, is circulating in the channel and thus both PV cooling and thermal energy collection can be achieved. In PV/T systems the cost of the thermal unit is the same irrespective if the PV module is constructed with crystalline-silicon (c-Si), poly-crystalline silicon (pc-Si) or amorphous-silicon (a-Si) type of cells. Thus the ratio of the additional cost of the mounted thermal unit per PV module area cost is dierent and is almost double in case of using a-Si compared to c-Si or pc-Si PV modules. The electrical and thermal output, although are of dierent value, it is usual to be added in order to give a gure of the hybrid system total (electrical and thermal) energy output and new devices are in development towards cost eective and of low environmental impact solar energy conversion systems. The PVT/water collectors have more limitations in system design and operation than the PVT/air collectors. This is due to the necessary heat exchanger element, which should have good thermal contact with PV rear surface, while in PVT/air systems the air is heated directly from the front or/and the back surface of PV modules. But on the other hand the air heat extraction is less ecient than the water one, due to the low density of air and improvements are necessary to make PVT/air system ecient and attractive for real applications. In PV/T collectors the absorber element is less ecient compared to that of typical thermal collectors as it is of lower conductivity (glass or polymer substrate in PV modules) and also, there are limitations for PV module surface treatment to become selective in infrared emittance (low e) and reducing heat radiation to operate eectively at higher temperatures. In most PVT/air systems the air circulates through a channel formed between the rear PV surface and the system thermal insulation, and in some other systems through channels on both PV module sides, in series or in parallel ow. The usual heat extraction mode is the direct air heating from PV module rear surface by natural on forced convection and the thermal eciency depends on channel

depth, air ow mode and air ow rate. Small channel depth and high ow rate increase heat extraction, but increase also pressure drop, which reduces the system net electrical output in case of forced air ow, because of the increased power for the fan. In applications with natural air circulation, the small channel depth reduces air ow and this results to an increase of PV module temperature. In these systems large depth of air channel (minimum 0.1 m) is necessary (Bhargava et al., 1991). 3.2. Air heat extraction improvements The design of PVT/air solar systems has some similarities with the solar air collectors, but the use of the PV module instead of the black absorber sheet makes PVT/air systems of lower eciency, for the same above mentioned reasons regarding PVT/water systems. Several publications are referred to investigations on air heating solar collectors. The simpler modication that is suitable for application in the air channel of the PVT/air systems is the roughened opposite air channel wall surface (Prasad and Saini, 1991; Bhavnani and Bergles, 1990), by which up to about 30% heat extraction increase can be achieved. Better results give the addition of several type ribs in the air channel (Han and Park, 1988; Gupta et al., 1993). More ecient is considered the mounting of vortices (Turk and Junkhan, 1986; Biswas and Chattopadhyay, 1992; Zhu et al., 1995; Tiggelbeck et al., 1993; Brockmeier et al., 1993 and Fiebig, 1997), which contribute to about four times better performance in heat transfer. Other modications that have been suggested for the improvement of heat extraction in the air channel are the use of pins, matrices, porous materials and perforated plates, but most of them are not of practical interest for PVT/air collectors. Fins on the absorber back surface, on the opposite air channel wall or on both surfaces (Garg and Datta, 1989), as well as joining these two surfaces (Garg et al., 1991b) are interesting and practical modications to enhance the heat transfer in the air channel. Some other nned absorber geometries (Pottler et al., 1999 and Naphon, 2005) give satisfactory results, making promising this type of air channel modication. Our research is mainly concerned with the reduction of PV module temperature, the improvement of air heat extraction by the circulating air and the avoidance of heat transfer through the thermal insulation on system back side. By applying the new design concepts the electrical and thermal eciencies are at satisfactory levels. Several ideas were experimentally tested and the results showed that low cost PVT/air system improvements can be achieved (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2000, 2001a; Tonui and Tripanagnostopoulos, 2007a,b). 3.3. PV/T application to buildings In BIPV applications and regarding PV installation at the facade and the inclined roof, the rear surface of PV modules is thermally protected from the back thermal

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losses and the cell temperature rise becomes a considerable reason for the electrical eciency reduction. In addition, heat from PV modules is transmitted to the building, mainly during summer, the building temperature rises over the acceptable comfort level and more electrical energy is needed to cover the increased load of the air conditioning system to reject this undesirable heat out to the ambient and to cool the building. The fac ade and tilted roof integrated PV/T systems are more eectively insulated on their rear surface, compared to the ones installed on horizontal roof, as they are attached on the fac ade wall or the tilted roof. The additional thermal protection increases the thermal eciency of the system, but the lower thermal losses keep PV temperature at a higher level, therefore they are operating with reduced electrical eciency. Smaller size PV and PV/T systems, using aperture surface area of about 35 m2 and water storage tank of 150200 l, can be installed on onefamily houses (Elazari, 1998). Larger size systems of about 3050 m2 and 15002000 l water storage are more suitable for multi-at residential buildings, hotels, hospitals, industries, etc. Two recent works give a gure of domestic applications of PV/T systems by applying TRNSYS methodology to water heating (Kalogirou and Tripanagnostopoulos, 2006) and using F-chart techniques for space heating and cooling (Vokas et al., 2006). An interesting building application of solar energy systems is to use linear Fresnel lenses as transparent material of atria, sunspaces, etc, to control lighting and temperature of these spaces, providing also electricity and heat and cover building energy needs. In buildings, shading devices (Tsangrassoulis et al., 1996) and double-glazed windows with motorised reective blinds (Athienitis and Tzempelikos, 2002) aim to reduce the absorbed solar energy and to keep the average temperature of the interior space at the comfort level. Flat or curved (CPC) reectors are suggested as lightguides to provide sunlight to the building interior spaces (Molteni et al., 2001; Scartezzini and Courret, 2002). Fresnel lenses are optical devices of practical interest for solar radiation concentration, because of their low volume and weight and also of smaller focal length and lower cost compared to thick ordinary lenses. The advantage of linear Fresnel lenses to separate the direct from the diuse solar radiation makes them suitable for illumination control in the building interior space, providing light of suitable intensity level without sharp contrasts and achieving shading absorbing a great part of the incoming solar radiation. The concentration of the direct part of the incident solar radiation on a thermal absorber of small width located at the focal position has been suggested by Jirka et al. (1998) to achieve lower illumination level, to avoid space overheating and to contribute to the thermal needs of the building. An eective combination of Fresnel lenses can be the use of hybrid PV/T small width absorbers to extract the concentrated solar radiation in the form of electricity and heat (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2007). This com-

pound system can be also used to achieve illumination control of buildings during day, storing the surplus energy for space heating during night. This system can contribute in the ventilation needs during day and also to cover other building electrical loads. In low intensity solar radiation, the absorbers can be out of focus, leaving the light to come in the interior space and to keep the illumination at an acceptable level. Laboratory scale experimental results give an idea about the application of this new optical system for lighting (reduction by about 6080%) and cooling control (reduction by 310 C) of building interior spaces (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2007), estimating that the system is promising for building application and eectively combined with PV/T type absorbers. 4. PV/T design improvements 4.1. Design concepts for modied PV/T systems From the parametric study on PVT/air systems (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2000, 2001a and 2002b) it was observed that the eciency is increased for smaller channel depth, but the pressure drop must be considered due to the additional electrical power input for the operation of the fan. The heat extraction by natural airow depends on the temperature dierence between the inserting air in the channel and the PV module. The operation of PV/T system with high rate of forced airow gives satisfactory results regarding heat extraction. In natural airow the ow rate is not usually so much high as in forced airow applications. The smaller channel depth increases heat extraction, but decreases also the air velocity. The heat extraction can be increased using larger heat exchanging surface area in the air channel to promote the convection heat transfer to the circulating air. In order to increase radiation heat transfer, the PV rear surface as well as the opposite channel wall surface should be of high emissivity to transform the infrared radiation to convection heat transfer mechanisms and to heat eciently the circulating air. The last eect can be further improved if larger heat exchanging surfaces are used in the air channel. Elements of several geometry (Fig. 2) can be placed between PV module and opposite channel wall, or also on the wall, by which a more ecient air heat extraction is achieved (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2000). Roughening the opposite channel wall with ribs or/and using wall surface of high emissivity, a considerable and low cost air heating improvement is also adapted (Fig. 2a). In addition, corrugated sheet inside the air channel along the air ow can be attached on PV rear surface and opposite channel wall surface (Fig. 2b). An alternative modication is to put light weight pipes along the air ow in the air channel, with slight elasticity to achieve satisfactory thermal contact with PV rear surface and channel wall (Fig. 2c). These pipes are heated by conduction, convection and radiation from PV rear surface and can contribute to air heat extraction, avoiding also the undesirable increase of opposite

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increase enough system cost because they should be laminated to PV modules and the higher module weight increases the transportation cost. The mounting of ns at the opposite to PV module channel wall can be done separately on the building tilted roof or the fac ade and is estimated of practical interest regarding exibility and cost. The typical as well as the modied PVT/AIR systems can be applied for space heating of building during winter and for space cooling during summer with natural ventilation mode and by the creation of a strong upward air stream (solar chimney eect). 4.2. Booster diuse reectors Considering PV/T solar systems installed on horizontal building roof, the parallel rows keep a distance from one to the other in order to avoid PV module shading. Stationary at diuse reectors, which can be placed between the parallel rows of PV modules have been investigated (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2002a). This installation increases solar input on PV modules (Fig. 4) almost throughout the year, resulting to an increase of electrical and thermal output of PV/T systems. Although diuse reectors result to less radiation on system absorber than the specular reectors, they do not cause PV electrical eciency drop as they provide an almost uniform distribution of the reected solar radiation on the PV module surface. The diuse reectors can be eectively applied in the residential and the industrial sector, overcoming some practical limitations of the usual PV/T systems as of the low operating temperature of the thermal unit in typical PV/T collectors and the reduction of electricity in the case of using additional glazing. 4.3. The PVT/dual system concept The PVT/water collectors can eectively operate all seasons, mainly for application at locations in low latitudes where favorable weather conditions regarding the ecient operation of the thermal collectors usually exist, or marginally in medium latitudes to avoid freezing. On the other hand, the PVT/air collectors can eectively operate mainly at locations of medium and high latitudes without freezing problems, but for low latitude applications the summer

Fig. 2. Improvement of the heat extraction in the air channel of the PVT/ air system, with (a) roughened with ribs the opposite air channel wall modication, (b) interposition of a corrugated sheet and (c) placement of tubes inside air channel.

channel wall surface temperature (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2000). Although the above heat transfer improvements result to ecient air heating, two other low cost modications were investigated that can achieve satisfactory air heating, reduced PV module temperature and low increase of the opposite channel wall temperature (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2000). The rst is to place a thin at metallic sheet (TMS type modication) inside the air channel and along the air ow (Fig. 3a). This TMS element doubles the heat exchanging surface area in the air channel and reduces the heat transmittance to the back air channel wall of the PV/T system. The second modication is to mount ns on the opposite air channel wall and along air ow (FIN type modication) and facing the PV rear surface (Fig. 3b). By using ns, the heat exchange surface can be increased two or more times depending on the n density and dimensions (Garg and Datta, 1989). Fins can be also attached at PV rear surface but although they can contribute to the achievement of higher heat extraction they

Fig. 3. Air heat extraction improvement by using (a) a thin metallic sheet inside air channel (TMS modication) and (b) ns on the opposite air channel wall (FIN modication).

Fig. 4. Combined PV/T-diuse reector system and indication of diused reected radiation on PV surface.

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period with the high ambient temperatures PV cooling by the circulating air is less eective. In addition, the hot air is not useful to the buildings during summer, except if the system is used to enhance natural ventilation by the solar chimney eect, but in this case the heated air is usually rejected to the ambient. A combination of both heat extraction modes in one device is interesting and could possibly overcome the limitations of the two PV/T type collectors. Based on this principle, a new type of PV/T collector with dual heat extraction operation (PVT/dual) either to heat water or to heat air depending on the weather conditions and building needs, was investigated (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2001b). The water heat extraction part could operate mainly during the periods of higher ambient temperatures, as water from mains is not usually over 20 C and the air heat extraction part to operate mainly when the ambient temperature is low. It should be taken care to drain the water from the pipes when ambient air drops under zero and to operate the system only with the air circulation (except if anti-freezing liquid is used), while under mild weather conditions it is possible to operate both heat extraction modes, if it is considered useful for the application. 5. PVT/dual experimental study 5.1. Alternative PVT/dual system designs In the dual PV/T collector both water and air heat exchangers (WHE and AHE correspondingly) are together in the same device and there are three main modes of arrangement (Fig. 5). In the rst mode the WHE is placed in thermal contact with the back surface of PV module and the AHE exactly after it, forming also the thermal insulation envelope (MODE A). In the second mode the AHE is placed directly on the PV module back and the WHE inside the formed air channel (MODE B). In the third mode the AHE is mounted directly on the back of PV mod-

ule and the WHE is attached at the opposite air channel wall (MODE C). MODE A has advantage in water heat extraction as the WHE is in thermal contact with PV rear surface, but air heat extraction is through the WHE back side. MODE B has advantage in air heat extraction as the additional element of the WHE plays the role of the TMS in the air channel (mentioned in the previous section). MODE C has advantage from the practical point of view, as the WHE is simply placed on the opposite air channel wall. This system is obviously easier in construction than the other two arrangements, as the mounting the WHE at PV module rear surface with a good thermal contact and the hanging of it in the middle of the air channel. Another point of the suggested combination regarding WHE and AHE sub-parts is that the air heat extraction is improved compared to the typical PVT/air collectors because the pipes of the WHE increase the heat-exchanging surface inside air channel in all above cases. In order to determine the dierence in water and air heating performance of the three design modes of the PVT/dual collector a prototype was constructed and experimentally tested outdoors with steady state procedure. The experimental model was consisted of a pc-Si PV module of 46 Wp with aperture area Aa = 0.4 m2 and an air channel at PV rear surface of 10 cm depth (AHE), formed by sheets of the thermal insulation 5 cm thickness. A heat exchanger for water circulation (WHE) from copper sheet with copper pipes was constructed. The PVT/dual experimental model was properly designed to have exibility in changing the place of the WHE element inside the formed by the AHE air channel, placed on PV rear surface (MODE A), in the middle of air channel (MODE B), or on air channel opposite wall (MODE C). 5.2. Experimental study of PVT/dual system The system was tested outdoors at Physics Department experimental site for the above three heat extraction modes of water and air circulation, regarding the electrical and thermal performance of it. For the measurements of the temperatures at several positions of the device, CuCuNi thermocouples were used. These temperatures were the following: the input (Ti) and the output (To) uid temperature, the ambient air temperature (Ta), the water heat exchanger temperature (TWHE), the air channel opposite wall temperature (Tw), the air temperature in the air channel (Tair) and the PV module temperature (TPV). The incoming solar radiation on PV module plane (G) was measured by a Kipp and Zonen pyranometer and for the control of air ow a Lutron AM-4204 sensor was used. For system operation at stagnation conditions (without uid ow) the stagnation temperature (Tst) for the water was considered by measuring the temperature on the WHE (Tst = TWHE). For the air heat extraction the mean value of the PV module temperature and the opposite channel wall temperature were used (Tst = (TPV + Tw)/2).

Fig. 5. Alternative PVT/dual design modes, used to determine the optimum arrangement of the water and the air heat exchangers.

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0.6
th

The steady state tests were performed during noon (2 h), with systems oriented to the sun in order to ensure constant value of the incoming solar radiation with almost same diuse solar radiation (2025% of total). It was estimated that for these experiments solar radiation intensity variation of the 20 W m2 and ambient air temperature variation of 1 K were considered approximately constant for the calculations and system evaluation, while all data were collected by a CR10X Data Logger. The mass ow rate for the two operation modes of the dual type PV/T _ 0:02 kg s1 . collector (for both water and air) was m The testing procedure for the determination of the eect of the alternative positions of the heat exchanging element in the PVT/dual system performance, includes experiments for system operation with uid inserting system input at several temperatures. During tests the PV module was connected to a load, simulating real system operation and in order to avoid additional water or air heating. The operation of the PVT/dual collector can be done either by working independently the two heat extraction modes or working them together and simultaneously. Although some tests were performed operating the WHE and AHE thermal sub-units simultaneously, apart of the complicated testing procedure it was observed that it was of less practical interest and therefore the independent operation of the PVT/dual system regarding water or air heat extraction was nally more extensively studied. Considering the incoming solar radiation G (W) on aperture system surface of area Aa (m2), the uid mass ow _ (kg s1) and the heat removal uid specic heat Cp rate m 1 (J kg K1), the thermal eciency gth of solar thermal col_ p T o T i = lectors is calculated by the relation: gth mC Aa G. In thermal collectors gth is determined as function of the ratio DT/G (K W1 m2), where DT = Ti Ta is determined for uid ow operation and DT = Tst Ta, for operation at stagnation. The function gth = f(DT/G), is also used in PV/T systems as their thermal unit corresponds to a thermal collector. For the calculation of the electrical output the load was disconnected for a short time and the current I (A) and the voltage V (V) of PV module were measured to determine the IV curve of it under system operating conditions. From these data the values of the current Im and voltage Vm at maximum power point of PV module operation were determined. The values of Im and Vm and the incoming solar radiation G are used to calculate the PV module electrical eciency gel for the system aperture area Aa, using the relation: gel = ImVm/ AaG. The electrical measurements were also used to determine the electrical eciency as function of PV module operating temperature. In Fig. 6 the test results of the PVT/dual experimental collector regarding the three modes of water heat exchanger placement inside the air channel, are shown. These results are referred to the thermal eciency gt of the PVT/dual system for the water and the air heat extraction, regarding the ratio DT/G. The thermal eciency of PV/ water sub-collector is extended in negative DT/G axis, as

MODE A
0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

WATER AIR

Thermal efficiency
-0.02

-0.01

0.01

0.02 0.03 T/G ( KW m )

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.6
th

MODE B 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

WATER AIR

Thermal efficiency
-0.02

-0.01

0.01

0.02 0.03 T/G ( KW m )

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.6
th

MODE C
0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

WATER AIR

Thermal efficiency
-0.02

-0.01

0.01

0.02 0.03 T/G ( KW m )

0.04

0.05

0.06

Fig. 6. Test results of the alternative designs of PVT/dual systems.

some experiments were performed for ambient temperature being higher than the water temperature at system input (Ta > Ti). From the presented results of Fig. 6 one can see that the rst PVT/dual design mode (MODE A) with the water heat exchanger on PV rear surface, presents the higher system thermal performance regarding the water heating, while regarding air heating it is considered satisfactory. The second design mode (MODE B) presents the higher thermal performance for the air heating and moderate for the water heating. The last design mode (MODE C) presents moderate performance in air heating, but the performance in water heating is low as the WHE is far from PV rear surface. Comparing the above results, MODE A is observed the most eective combination of the WHA and AHE elements for the heat extraction operation among the three tested system design modes. The other two design modes present lower thermal performance in water heat extraction, which is very critical for the ecient operation of the PVT/dual system in both thermal and electrical outputs. This is due to the less ecient water heating and also to the less eective PV cooling, resulting therefore to the reduction of both thermal and electrical outputs. The water heat extraction performance improvement is limited as the main modication that can be applied is to use more pipes on the heat exchanger sheet, which could give a slightly higher eciency, but on the contrary the additional cost is much more higher. In the constructed model the distance between

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the pipes was considered sucient (8 cm) regarding the heat extraction by conduction and the corresponding element cost. On the other hand, it is easier and cost eective to improve the heat extraction in the air circulation by applying some of the investigations that were analyzed in the previous section and MODE A of the PVT/dual system was used to be applied. 5.3. Modied PVT/dual systems Based on the above, the MODE A combination of WHE and AHE elements was used and the collector was further modied, applying some of the above mentioned investigated improvements in the air channel. The rst modication was the interposition of the TMS element in the air channel (PVT/dual-TMS model). The second modication was the mounting of the FIN element (PVT/dualFIN model) on the opposite air channel wall and in the third modication the TMS element was combined with roughened opposite channel wall by small ribs (PVT/ dual-TMS/RIB model). These three modied PVT/dual collectors are shown in cross section in Fig. 7. In PVT/dual-TMS model a thin at metallic sheet (aluminum) was placed in the middle of the air channel and parallel to air ow (Fig. 7a). The front side of TMS element that faces the PV rear surface was painted mat black to have high emittance (e  0.9), while the back side of TMS was left unpainted and as metallic surface it had low emittance (e  0.1). By these surface properties (together with the high e back surface of WHE element and the high e opposite air channel wall surface) a higher radiation transmission is obtained to the front side of the TMS element. The absorbed heat rises the TMS temperature and results to the eective heating of the circulating

Fig. 7. Cross section of the studied PVT/dual solar systems, with (a) the thin metallic sheet (TMS) modication, (b) the ns on opposite air channel wall (FIN) modication and (c) the combination of TMS with ribs on opposite air channel wall (TMS/RIB).

air by convection, contributing to the achievement of higher thermal eciency (according also to the results mentioned in 4.1). Besides, the TMS element operates as a shield, protecting the opposite air channel wall from the heat ow from PV rear surface to it, thus it is estimated suitable to avoid the undesirable building overheating. In the second modied model, the PVT/dual-FIN, ns of prole were used to form the n plate element with their at vertical surfaces being along to the air stream and to increase the heat exchanger surface of FIN element (Fig. 7b). It was considered preferable a cheap metallic material to be used, as it is the galvanized iron sheet, to construct metallic ns of 4 cm in size, in order to form the n type element. The surface of the ns can remain metallic to have low e and reduce the heat transmission through the thermal insulation of the PV/T collector. In this case the temperature rise of FIN is not high and the eect on the air heat extraction is lower. More ecient in air heating is the case that the surface of the ns is painted black (high e) and as the heat ow from the PV rear surface to it is higher, the achieved thermal eciency of the collector is increased. The third modied model, the PVT/dual-TMS/RIB, is similar to the rst model but ribs of about 5 mm were formed on the opposite air channel wall (Fig. 7c). By this model it was aimed to combine the advantages of TMS and FIN modications, where the formation of ribs simulates small ns. The ribs were painted black to increase the heat transmittance by radiation from TMS back surface to air channel wall and overcome the lower heat transfer from wall to circulating air due to the small size of the ribs compared to the ns, but to keep the low heat transmission through the wall to collector back surface. The thermal eciency of air heat extraction mode depends strongly on air mass ow rate and the increase of it results to a corresponding increase of electrical input for the operation of the necessary fan. The electrical consumption of fan is also increased in case of using small air channel width or/and increased heat exchanging surface for air heat extraction, aiming to thermal eciency improvement. In PV/T systems the electrical eciency is of priority and the additional electrical input to overcome the corresponding additional pressure drop must be taken into consideration. The used air ow rate was _ 0:02 kg s1 and the additional heat exchanging surface m for the air heat extraction was almost two times the air channel internal surface area without the modication. The pressure drop in air channel from entrance to exit is small and is dicult to be accurately measured because of the short length of air channel (1 m). In a recent study the values of the pressure drop and the corresponding power to overcome it were calculated for TMS and FIN type modications (Tonui and Tripanagnostopoulos, 2007b). The modied PV/T systems with the dual heat extraction operation were also tested with additional incident solar radiation, which was achieved by combining properly

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1.0 0.9 0.8
th

the PVT/dual system with a at diuse reector (Fig. 4) tested outdoors for the system performance determination. In the experiments with the concentrating system, a mat thin aluminum sheet was attached on a rigid thin wooden sheet and adjusted to the sun in order the additional solar radiation input on the surface of the PV module of the PVT/dual collector to be about 35% to observe the eect of a higher value of the additional solar input by a stationary diuse reector-solar system combination. The application of diuse reectors is mainly concerned for horizontal building roof installations of solar thermal collectors, photovoltaic panels and PV/T systems, as they are usually placed in parallel rows and the space between them is available to put the reectors. The additional solar input on PV/ T system is not very high and the eect of it to the PV temperature increase is rather small, but this type of installation is very simple and cheap and can be considered a cost eective performance improvement for horizontally installed solar energy systems. 5.4. Experimental results from modied PVT/dual systems Thermal eciency (gth) steady state test results of the modied PV/T model regarding water and air heat extraction are presented in Figs. 810. The obtained linear eciency equations for all collectors are presented in Table 1, including also for comparison the corresponding equations from PVT/DUAL collector of MODE A (Fig. 5) as reference. From the results of diagrams and Table 1 and for the water heat extraction mode, the obtained thermal eciency is about 55% for all tested models and for operation at ambient conditions (DT/G = 0 K W1 m2). For the air heat extraction and for DT/G = 0 K W1 m2, it is 39% for PVT/dual-TMS type, 42% for PVT/dual-FIN type and close to 44% for PVT/dual-TMS/RIB type. These results are estimated satisfactory considering the achieved thermal eciency of PV/T systems with air or with water

PVT/DUAL-FIN
WATER WATER+REF AIR

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.00

Thermal efficiency

AIR+REF

-0.02

-0.01

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

T/G (K W -1m2)

Fig. 9. Thermal eciency steady state results of PVT/dual-FIN type collector regarding water and air heat extraction, in typical form as well as combined with diuse reector.

1.0 0.9 0.8

th

PVT/DUAL-TMS/RIB
WATER WATER+REF AIR

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.00

Thermal efficiency

AIR+REF

-0.02

-0.01

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

T/G (K W -1m2)

Fig. 10. Thermal eciency steady state results of PVT/dual-TMS/RIB type collector regarding water and air heat extraction, in typical form as well as combined with diuse reector.

1.0 0.9 0.8

th

PVT/DUAL-TMS
WATER WATER+REF AIR

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.00

Thermal efficiency

AIR+REF

-0.02

-0. 01

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

T/G (K W -1m2)

Fig. 8. Thermal eciency steady state results of PVT/dual-TMS type collector regarding water and air heat extraction, in typical form as well as combined with diuse reector.

heat extraction that is presented in the works of other authors. The thermal eciency is reduced for lower air ow rate and increased for higher air ow rate, but the increase in pressure drop should be considered as it aects the electrical input for the additional needed fan power, although the increase of electrical eciency from the decrease of PV temperature due to higher air ow can balance in some cases the additional fan power (Tonui and Tripanagnostopoulos, 2007b). Considering the obtained results from the reference system (MODE A PV/T system) there is a signicant increase in thermal eciency for the air heat extraction, which is higher by about 23%, 33% and 36% for the PVT/dual solar collectors with TMS, FIN and TMS/RIB type modication, respectively. Regarding the water heat extraction, the modications in the air channel have a smaller eect, which is in a reverse sequence to the air heat extraction performance and the observed dierences are about 17%, 16%

Y. Tripanagnostopoulos / Solar Energy 81 (2007) 11171131 Table 1 Eciency equations of the studied PVT/dual collectors System Thermal eciency Water PVT/dual-TMS PVT/dual-FIN PVT/dual-TMS/RIB PVT/dual-TMS + REF PVT/dual-FIN + REF PVT/dual-TMS/RIB + REF PVT/dual (MODE A) PV module PV module + REF gth = 0.556 12.824DT/G gth = 0.553 12.981DT/G gth = 0.545 12.771DT/G gth = 0.662 11.969DT/G gth = 0.651 11.731DT/G gth = 0.651 11.870DT/G gth = 0.475 11.671DT/G Electrical eciency gel = 0.166 0.001 TPV gel = 0.185 0.001 TPV Air

1127

gth = 0.391 8.484DT/G gth = 0.423 8.488DT/G gth = 0.434 8.933DT/G gth = 0.548 10.222DT/G gth = 0.595 10.286DT/G gth = 0.623 11.133DT/G gth = 0.319 7.471DT/G

and 14% correspondingly, for the above modications. The experiments were performed operating the PVT/dual systems only with water or with air heat extraction mode, to determine independently the eect of the two heat extraction modes to the system performance. Some experiments were performed using simultaneously water and air heat extraction system operation and the results showed that the two modes of heat extraction complement each other, if the WHE and AHE thermal parts are operating at the same temperature. If system operation is at dierent water and air temperatures, the one thermal unit aects thermally the other and the thermal outputs depend on the operating temperature of each uid, but this operation mode is complicated and not so important for most of the PVT/dual system applications. The PVT/dual systems were properly combined with a at diuse reector, which was adjusted to achieve an additional solar input on the surface of the used PV module. In Figs. 810 the corresponding performed thermal eciency for the three PVT/dual system types with the diuse reector regarding water heat extraction (water + REF) and air heat extraction (air + REF) are included. The calculation of thermal eciency for the combined systems is based on the net solar radiation on PV module surface in order to distinguish the eect of booster diuse reector from the typical system in the eciency diagrams. The additional solar radiation from the reector to the PV module surface was measured to perform experiments of same concentration and surface distribution of solar radiation, but in the calculations the eciency was derived considering the one-sun radiation only. Although the increase in energy output is more essential, the calculated eciency is lower if the additional solar radiation input is considered, because of the optical losses from the diuse reector and the PV module protective glazing. The given results in the diagrams and the Table show a considerable increase of thermal output for both heat extraction modes, achieving for the water heat extraction about 18%19% and for the air heat extraction about 4043%, at ambient conditions of operation (DT/G = 0 K W1 m2). The results are more impressive for higher system operating temperatures where the performance can be almost doubled for operation at

DT/G = 0.030 K W1 m2. These results show that the additional solar input on PV module has a positive eect in PVT/dual collectors and mainly in the air heat extraction, as these improvements contribute to overcome the problem of lower eciency due to the low density of air. In Fig. 11 the electrical eciency (gel) of the used PV module that was used in the tested PV/T systems as function of the operating temperature (TPV) is shown, together with the application of the diuse reector (PV + REF). In the tests with the booster diuse reector the calculation of the electrical eciency was based on the net solar radiation on PV module surface for a better comparison of the obtained electrical performance, following the same concept described above for the thermal part of the PV/T collector. The result from the applied diuse reector is an increase of the electrical performance by about 12% for the low (about 0 C) operating temperatures, with gel = 16.5% and 18.5%, for the typical PV and the PV + REF cases respectively. The increase in electrical performance percentage is more signicant if the operating PV module temperature is higher, as it happens usually in PV/ T collectors, thus the electrical performance can be higher by about 18% for operation of PV module at about 55 C, as gel = 13% for the PV + REF case, compared to gel = 11% for the typical case.
0.18 0.17
el

PV PV+REF

Electrical efficiency

0.16 0.15 0.14 0.13 0.12 0.11 0.1 0.09 0.08 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

90

100

PV Temperature oC

Fig. 11. The PV module electrical eciency as function of its operating temperature for the typical and the combined with diuse reector mode.

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5.5. Discussion The PV/T type solar collectors have a conict between their electrical and thermal performance, as the photovoltaic part (PV modules) presents higher electrical output for lower operating temperatures, but the thermal part (water or air heat extraction units) should provide heat removal uid at higher temperatures to adapt eectively several solar thermal applications. This problem makes these systems to be less often applied than the separate units of the photovoltaics and the thermal collectors, although PV/T collectors have lower cost per produced electricity and heat regarding the total used surface area for their installation. The investigated performance improvements aim to overcome some limitations in system ecient operation and to make these new solar energy devices more attractive for applications. The suggested PV/T collector with the dual heat extraction operation is an investigated PV/T system, which combines satisfactory electrical performance with exibility in heat extraction and heat removal uid. This device has a slightly higher cost than that of a typical PVT/water system, but the new system is suitable for multiple uses, providing also hot air for space heating, space cooling by natural ventilation, etc. In case that the heat extraction is not eective for domestic water heating and should be drained to avoid freezing in cold climates, the system can be used to heat air for space heating of the building. On the other hand PVT/dual collectors are a little more expensive than PVT/air collectors because of the additional WHE element, but their PV modules can operate at lower temperatures during summer as the water-cooling mode is more eective, achieving therefore higher electrical output. The applied modications for the improvement of the air heat extraction (TMS, FIN and TMS/RIB) are cost eective as the additional elements are cheap from the material point of view and can be easily mounted on the air channel or on the wall of it, independently to the type of the used PV module. In the studied PVT/dual collectors the increase in thermal output is signicant and can result to a reduction of the total system cost pay back time. If one considers the sum of thermal and electrical outputs from the PVT/dual systems, total values of about 70% and 55% are obtained, for the water and the air heat extraction modes respectively and for operation at about 20 C in both heat extraction modes. The corresponding values for the same systems but combined with diuse reector are about 80% and 75% for the water and for the air heat extraction. These results show the advantage of using the suggested combination of the diuse reectors for the increase of PV module electrical and thermal output. The eect of the diffuse reector is not same all year round, as the additional solar input to the PV module from the diuse reector depends on the season and the ratio diuse/total of the incident solar radiation. The horizontal building roofs located at low latitudes are mainly suitable for the applica-

tion of the diuse reectors. Considering solar energy systems installed on horizontal building roof they are usually placed in parallel rows, keeping a proper distance from one row to the other in order to avoid PV module shading. The stationary at diuse reectors can be placed between the collector rows from the higher part of PV modules of one row to the lower part of PV modules of next row. In all other cases, the simple type of PVT/dual collectors can be applied, providing electricity and heat in warm water or air the buildings and covering therefore a part of their energy demand. The investigated congurations for the PVT/dual air heat extraction improvement are considered satisfactory, with the TMS modication more suitable for the building protection from overheating, the FIN modication for the thermal output and the TMS/RIB modication for both. Regarding the applications of PVT/dual collectors, the warm water can be used in buildings all year, but for the air it is not eective in case of ambient air temperature over 20 C, except if air is used for natural ventilation of the building. It is also interesting the application of the studied systems to provide heat in industrial and agricultural processes. Considering the type of the PV modules, the used pc-Si type is estimated satisfactory regarding cost and electrical output, but c-Si and a-Si type modules can be also used depending on other requirements. The PV modules of c-Si type are more expensive than pc-Si type, but are more stable and of slightly higher electrical eciency The PV modules of a-Si type are cheaper than both above, but of lower eciency and stability. On the other hand, the use of a-Si PV modules in PV/T collectors can result to cost eective devices (Tselepis and Tripanagnostopoulos, 2002), mainly in case of large available installation surface area, because the lower electrical output is balanced by the higher thermal output. The complete PV/T systems include the additional components as of the balance of system (BOS) for the electricity and also for the heat. Because of the BOS the nal energy output is reduced by about 15% due to the electrical and thermal losses from one part to the other. The cost pay back time (CPBT) of standard photovoltaics is more than 25 years in case of no subsidies. PV/T systems present lower values of the CPBT (1015 years) if they are operating at low temperatures, but CPBT is higher for higher system operating temperatures because the electrical and thermal eciencies are reduced (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2005). Considering the environmental impact of PV/T systems, they present lower (by 2030%) energy and CO2 payback times in all cases compared to the standard PV modules and even lower values for lower operating temperatures (Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2005, 2006). Finally, one more advantage of PV/T systems relative to standard PV modules and solar thermal collectors is that they can cover both electricity and thermal needs with module types of same appearance instead of using two systems of dierent appearance, especially if the available external building surfaces for the installation of solar energy systems is limited. In case of large available building

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surfaces, the PV/T collectors can operate eciently at low temperatures to preheat the circulating uid and keep PV temperature relatively low, with the typical solar thermal collectors to operate at higher temperatures (Tripanagnostopoulos, 2006). 6. Conclusions A brief overview of the literature and the aspects for the studies, technologies and improvements of hybrid photovoltaic/thermal solar systems show the perspectives and limitations of these new solar energy devices. Investigations that contribute to PV/T system improvements at the University of Patras were briey analyzed and the dual PV/T type collector with water and air heat extraction operation was suggested. Some experimental models consisting of pcSi PV module, an air channel and water heat exchanger made by copper sheet and copper pipes were designed and tested. The systems aim to use either water or air for the heat extraction from the PV module, depending on the thermal needs of the application and the ecient operation of system regarding the weather conditions and the used heat removal uid. Three alternative modes of placing the water heat exchanger inside the air channel were tested, with the water heat exchanger at PV rear surface giving the best results for the combined water and air heat extraction. For the improvement of air heat extraction, three low cost modications that increase the heat exchange surface in the air channel were tested to determine system performance. Steady state test results of the modied PV/T systems showed satisfactory thermal eciency for both water and air heat extraction. Aiming to achieve higher thermal and electrical output of the modied PVT/dual collectors they were combined with diuse reector and the results conrmed the advantage of using low concentration and cheap diuse reector making, this combination cost eective for horizontal building roof installations. PV/T systems with the dual heat extraction operation can be eectively used in houses, residential and oce buildings, in hotels, hospitals and also in the industrial and agricultural sectors providing electricity and heat with exibility in the heat removal uid. They are cost eective solar energy devices, mainly for operation in low temperatures and are promising systems for a wider application of photovoltaics. References
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