Theory and Experiment Research of Glass Cover in Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) Solar System

a novel photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar system was introduced in the paper, which consisted of both a flat plate solar thermal collector and a flat plate PV/T collector in parallel. Moreover, the effect of glass cover on PV/T collector was researched by theory and experiment. Experimental results show the daily average output efficiency of PV module reach 6.5% under condition without glass cover. But its output thermal efficiency is lower, and is only 26.4%. In addition, the daily average output efficiency of PV module and system thermal efficiency would reduce with the increase of the glass cover thickness under different glass cover thickness (2mm, 3mm and 4mm). Moreover, in the glass cover thickness of 2mm, the PV/T system had batter electricity and heat performance, and the daily average output efficiency of PV module and system thermal efficiency are 6.1%, 40.1%, respectively, the hot water temperature could reach 60 degrees C. Hence, the PV/T solar system could meet the basic need of ordinary rural families in lighting electricity and hot water.