Performance Monitoring of PV/T Based Solar Collector for Dual Output

This study aims to focus on the concept of integration of solar air heaters with PV (Photovoltaic) for dual output i.e. thermal and electrical. Conventional solar based collectors either water or air type are used majorly for thermal application. Thus, the integration of PV to the air heaters efficiently utilizes the solar radiation on a wider scale improving the overall output of the system. Thus, the optimized combination of PV and thermal collectors could effectively use same space to serve the dual purpose Present case study investigates the performance comparison of the PV/T air collector with the thermal collector. The transmittance of glass for thermal and PV/T air collector was found to be 87.5% and 4.54%, respectively. The maximum power output of PV/T collector was found to be 128.6 W at 815 W/m2 with solar panel efficiency of 10.38%. Such collectors find application where low energy standalone applications are desired such as drying, cooling and power generation in off grid areas.