Modeling and Simulation of a Novel Combined Solar Photovoltaic-Thermal Panel and Heat Pump Hybrid System

Abstract

A numerical simulation model for a novel concept of a hybrid composed of photovoltaicthermal solar panels and a heat pump is presented. This concept was developed to assess the performance and energy conversion efficiency of the hybrid system used to produce domestic hot water and electricity. A two-dimensional heat transfer and fluid flow dynamic model was developed to describe the behavior of the hybrid system under different solar irradiance, heat pump boundary conditions and different refrigerants. The model is based on dynamic mass and energy equations coupled with the heat transfer coefficients, and the thermodynamic properties of refrigerants as well as material properties. The model compared fairly to experimental data.

Prediction of Performance of a Novel Concept of Solar Photovoltaic-Thermal Panel and Heat Pipe Hybrid System

“…The solar photovoltaic panel is constructed of various modules and each module is consisted of arrays and cells. The dynamic current output can be obtained as follows [13][14][15], [17,33], and [27,28];…”

“…The thermal energy transferred from the PV cell to the Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) as shown in Figure .1, is determined from the heat balance across the PV cell and HTF in terms of the heat transfer mechanisms; conduction, convection and radiation as follows [27,28,33] The total energy transferred to heat transfer fluid is calculated from the integration of equations (6) through (11) written for each element, dx, along the length of each tube.…”

“…The back-temperatureT m of the PV cell and PV panel can be calculated from the heat balance across the PV cellas follows [27,33]…”

“…It is assumed that the T m is equal to the surface temperature of the heat exchanger tubes welded to the solar PV cell/panel in close contact to the back surface of each of the PV cells. The heat transferred from the back of the PV cell to the heat transfer fluid (HTF)flowing in the heat exchanger tubes as shown in Figure,1 is computed by the following forced heat transfer convection relationship [16,17,33] 14;…”

“…Recently Sami [33] presented a numerical simulation model for a novel concept of a hybrid system composed of photovoltaic thermal solar panels and a heat pump. This model was developed to assess the performance and energy conversion efficiency of this novel concept system intended to produce domestic hot water and electricity.…”