In this paper, the micro-channel flat-plate heat pipes-based BIPV/T system has been proposed, which is expected to have the characteristics, e.g. reduced contact thermal resistance, enhanced heat transfer area, improved heat transfer efficiency and building integration. The proposed system was constructed at the laboratory of Guangdong University of Technology (China) to study its performance. The temperatures of the glass cover, PV panel, micro-channel flat-plate heat pipes, and tank water were measured, as well as the ambient temperature. The thermal and electrical efficiency was also calculated for the system operated under the conditions with different simulated radiations and water flow rates. It was found that the proposed system can achieve the maximum average overall efficiency of 50.4% (thermal efficiency of 45.9% and electrical efficiency of 4.5%) for the simulated radiation of 300 W/m2 and water flow rate of 600 L/h. By comparing the proposed system with the two previous systems employing the conventional heat pipes, the thermal efficiency of the proposed system was clearly improved. The research will develop an innovative BIPV/T technology possessing high thermal conduction capability and high thermal efficiency compared with the conventional BIPV/T system, and helps realise the global targets of reducing carbon emission and saving primary energy in buildings. Practical application: This novel BIPV/T employing micro-channel flat-plate heat pipes will be potentially used in buildings to provide amount of electricity and thermal energy. The generated electricity will be used by the residents for electrical devices, and the thermal energy can be used for hot water, even for space heating and cooling.
In this paper, the influence of the solid-solid phase change material on the novel micro-channel flat-plate heat-pipe–based building integrated photovoltaic/thermal system has been investigated, which has been expected to store the excess heat, enhance the overall efficiency of the system and maintain the stable photovoltaic temperatures. The proposed system was divided into two parts, i.e. the outdoor part formed by flat-plate glass, photovoltaic panel, micro-channel flat-plate heat pipes, solid-solid phase change material layer and insulated material, and indoor part including the storage tank, water pump and storage batter. The experiments were conducted at the Guangdong University of Technology, China, to investigate the thermal and electrical performance of the proposed system. When the simulated radiation was at 300 W/m2 and water flow rate was at 600 L/h, the maximum average thermal, electrical and overall efficiency were found at 52.9%, 7.9% and 60.8%, respectively, when the xenon lamps were turned on, and the maximum average efficiency of 86.6% were found when the xenon lamps were turned off, indicating the most appropriate working condition of the proposed system due to the thermal storage and release of the solid-solid phase change material during the system operation. Compared with the previous studies of the conventional building integrated photovoltaic/thermal systems, it was found that the overall efficiency of the system averagely increased 5–30% and the daily water temperature difference of the system averagely increased 1.8–10.5℃, indicating that the solid-solid phase change material can significantly increase the thermal efficiency of the system. Practical application The proposed micro-channel-flat-plate-heat pipe based BIPV/T (MCFPHP-BIPV/T) system with SS-PCM will be potentially used in buildings to provide amount of electricity and thermal energy. The generated electricity will be used by the residential electrical devices or connected to the grid, and the thermal energy can be used for hot water, even for space heating and cooling. The proposed building-integrated system can be assisted in realising the targets of energy saving and carbon-emission-reduction in buildings.
In this paper, a novel photovoltaic/thermal system using micro-channel flat loop heat pipe (PV/T-MCFLHP) is proposed, and the thermal and electrical performance of the system is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The variations of temperatures were analysed, and the efficiency of the system was calculated under different conditions, i.e. simulated solar radiation, water flow rate and refrigerant filling ratio. The maximum overall efficiency of the system was found to be 51.3%, the thermal efficiency 43.8% and the electrical efficiency 7.5% with the refrigerant filling ratio of 25%, simulated solar radiation of 800 W/m2 and water flow rate of 400 L/h. Test results were compared with simulation results, and the recorded average error was 10.2%.
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