Mathematical Model of Double Pass Photovoltaic Thermal Air Collector with Fins

Problem statement: The efficiency of photovoltaic cells is generally temperature dependent (efficiency decrease when the temperature of the photovoltaic cells increase). This problem can be solved by cooling the solar cells during operation and operated at low temperature. Approach: This study presented a numerical model of double pass Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) solar air collector with fins attached to the back side of the absorber plate to improve heat transfer to the flowing air for predicting the performance of the system. Results: Five coupled of unsteady nonlinear partial differential equations were formulated by using first order forward scheme in time and second order central difference scheme in space to predict the performance of PV/T solar air heater at different parameters and conditions. The temperatures of the solar cells, outlet fluid temperature and the temperature distribution of every static element in both models were predicted. The performance of the collector including photovoltaic, thermal and combined PV/T collector over range of operating conditions are discussed. Conclusion: Experimental and theoretical results were compared and showed that close agreement between these two values were obtained.