Experimental investigation on the performance of an advanced bi-fluid photovoltaic thermal solar collector system

This paper aims to investigate the effect of various mass flow rates of working fluids on the performances of the bi-fluid photovoltaic thermal (PVT) system and the integrated air-based type. The experiments were conducted for two outdoor cases, Case I and Case II. In each case, the mass flow rate of air was fixed at a value in both systems, while the mass flow rate of water was varied between two values in the bi-fluid PVT system. The observed results showed the performance of both systems can be improved by the optimum mass flow rates. The bi-fluid PVT system working with 0.1190 kgs (-1) and 0.0102 kgs(-1) of air and water flows has given 64.57 %, 12.64 %, and 99.33 % of thermal, electrical, and overall efficiencies, respectively. Furthermore, when the airbased was operating at the mass flow rate of 0.0446 kgs(-1), the corresponding findings were 35.56 %, 12.56 %, and 70.54 % of thermal, electrical, and overall efficiencies. However, the electrical performance was also investigated for the connected PV modules. The maximum power output was 248 W and 223.7 W for Case I and Case II, respectively, as the highest values for different operating conditions. The positive results suggest the technology to be used for various usages.

Automated summary

This study investigates the effect of various mass flow rates on the performance of bi-fluid photovoltaic thermal systems. The results show that optimum mass flow rates can improve the performance of both systems.