EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION OF A SIMULATION MODEL FOR A PV/T COLLECTOR

Abstract – Solar PV/thermal hybrid collectors represent a smart solution towards the improvement of economic performances of PV systems. The availability of heat together with electricity is a good chance for better design the system integration into the user overall energy demand scheme. It is also well known that the “cooling ” effect due to air (or water) circulation within the collector gives a positive contribution to the electric efficiency of the PV collector. Performances of a PV/T collector are difficult to assess. They strongly depend on the specific configuration of the collector (geometry, materials, etc.) and on the running conditions (air or water air flow rates, temperatures, etc.) together with climatic conditions of operation. Many simulation tools have been proposed in this years. On the framework of a research work conduced together with the firm SECCO-SISTEMI, authors have designed PV/T collector (with air circulation) and have tested a 1:1 scaled prototype. These activities have also produced a simulation model which has been also validated during an extensive field test campaign. With the support of such model different system configurations can be simulated in order to optimise their design. 1