Thermal and Electrical Analysis of N-PVT-FPC Hybrid Active Heating of Biogas Plant

Abstract

In order to increase biogas production during winter months/cold climatic conditions, a self-sustained N-photo-voltaic thermal and flat plate collectors (PVT-FPC) hybrid active heating biogas plant has been analyzed in terms of thermal energy and electrical energy. A general analytical expression for thermal and electrical energy of biogas plant has been derived as a function of climatic and design parameters from one order coupled differential equations. Various photo-voltaic thermal and flat plate collectors (N-PVT-FPC) configurations have been considered for optimizing maximum electrical and thermal energy gain for a given total number of N-PVT-FPC collectors. Based on mathematical computation for Indian cold climatic conditions, it has been found that the photo-voltaic thermal and flat plate collectors (N-PVT-FPC) combination is always better than the flat plate collectors-photo-voltaic thermal (N-FPC-PVT) collector for maximum electrical and thermal energy. Overall exergy analysis of hybrid active heating of biogas plant has also been carried out.

A Review of the Modeling of Parabolic Trough Solar Collectors Coupled to Solar Receivers with Photovoltaic/Thermal Generation

“…Although it only includes 4% of the summarized studies in the review, it is a journal focused on solar energy issues; Brekke et al [66] provide valuable information for SRC-PVT modeling. Therefore, it is recommended to consult his future studies [114,115], with the expectation that they will discuss other relevant aspects of PTC and CPC modeling.…”