Performance Evaluation of PVT Air Collector Coupled with a Triangular Block in Actual Climate Conditions in Korea

Abstract

This study experimentally investigated the performance of a PVT air collector coupled with a triangular block. The triangular block, newly suggested by the authors, is a triangular-shaped obstacle and was inserted at the bottom of the PVT air collector to enhance the heat transfer performance of the collector. The experiment was carried out in actual climate conditions in Korea with two air mass flow rate conditions: 0.03606 kg/m2 s and 0.06948 kg/m2 s. Results show the average values of electrical efficiency of the collector during the test period to be 16.15% and 16.43% for each air mass flow rate, while thermal efficiencies were 28.83% and 38.36%, respectively. The average values of total energy efficiencies were found to be 44.99% and 54.79%, respectively. The results show that air mass flow rate has a large impact on thermal and total energy efficiency, while it has a small impact on electrical efficiency. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the PVT air collector coupled with a triangular block can enhance the utilization of solar energy since the thermal performance was higher than that of the collector without a triangular block.