Numerical study to determine the optimum design of PV/T water collector, pipes diameter, and number of pipes

Abstract

This paper numerical study to determine the optimum design for photovoltaic thermal water collector PV/T water, pipes diameter and number of pipes by using comsol multiphasic simulation program. The simulation result indicated that the collector with 8mm inner pipe diameter and 16 pipe number have the lowest PV panel temperature and highest water out let temperature in comparison with other collectors that have been tested.The electrical and thermal efficiency was also calculated with different solar radiation of 600,700,800,900,1000W/m2 and with a different flow rate starting from 1 Lpm to 5 Lpm, the results determined that the highest electrical and thermal efficiency achieved was 14.52%,83.354% for electrical and thermal efficiency respectively, at 1000W/m2 and 5 Lpm.