Indoor Test Conditions of Thermal Collector Channel Using Water as a Working Fluid to Enhance the Electrical and Thermal Efficiency of the PV / T System

Abstract

The hybrid (PV/T) system or photovoltaic thermal collector generates the electrical and thermal energy simultaneously. The main objective of this study was to design, manufacture and evaluate the work of the PV/T system as a thermal collector to enhance heat transfer, by using (distilled water) as a working fluid used to cool  (PV/T) system. The experimental setup of the system was constructed, using the optimal water guides for each configuration and was evaluated using the numerical results. thermal absorber collector of (PV/T) system is the box made of a heat-insulating material (foam), inside which contains a water guides that is operated by a CNC machine used to distributed of liquid inside of PV/T system, then installed later in the back surface of the photoelectric panel using epoxy wax, here,  designed the thermal absorber collector channel to be within the geometrical shape of the PV panel to observe the rules placed to install the PV panels previously prepared. Results obtained from the numerical analysis indicated that the rectangular channel with round water guides, linear distribution [d = 10mm, h = 3mm, n = 66] has the best design used to heat transfer. The results showed that the thermal aggregation channel with round fluid flow guides, at linear distribution, had a 14.595% PV/T for maximum electrical efficiency and a 94.514% PV/T for maximum thermal efficiency for experimental results, where the total efficiency increase with increasing the flow rate, for all experience the was the volume flow rate is 5L/min minute and solar radiation was 1000 w/m².