Exergo-Economic and CO2 Emission Analysis of Bi-Symmetrical Web Flow Photovoltaic-Thermal System Under Diurnal Conditions

Abstract

The undesired heat evolved in photovoltaic (PV) module during its regular operation must be removed to aspire to reliable power output. PV installations in tropical and sub-tropical regions experience abrupt PV module heating, especially during summer seasons that lead to a hot spot effect. Photovoltaic–thermal (PVT) system has proven to provide module cooling satisfactorily with various working fluids while delivering a higher annual energy yield. In the present study, experiments were carried out on novel web flow channel PVT module at Vellore (12.9165 ° N, 79.1325 ° E), India. The present research was carried out under outdoor conditions with various mass flowrates ranging 0.5– 2 L per minute under sunny and overcast conditions. Water was used as working fluid in the PVT system, and performance results were compared to 335 Wp reference polycrystalline PV module under similar operating conditions. PVT with bi-symmetrical web flow thermal absorber gave maximum overall efficiency of 63.09% obtained at 1.5 LPM mass flowrate of the water. Estimation of CO2 mitigations for PVT system earned 8.2% higher savings than the PV module alone under overcast conditions.