Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

Solar Energy 90 (2013) 5867

www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Energy and exergy analysis of hybrid photovoltaic thermal

water collector for constant collection temperature mode
R.K. Mishra , G.N. Tiwari
Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016, India
Received 7 April 2012; received in revised form 10 December 2012; accepted 29 December 2012
Available online 4 February 2013
Communicated by: Associate Editor C. Estrada-Gasca

Abstract
This paper deals with the analysis of hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PVT) water collectors under constant collection temperature mode
unlike constant ow rate mode. The analysis has been carried out in terms of thermal energy, electrical energy and exergy gain for two
dierent congurations namely case A (collector partially covered by PV module) and case B (collector fully covered by PV module). The
results are compared with the conventional at plate collector (FPC). The eect of collector area covered by PV module on the performance of hybrid PVT water collector has been studied. The characteristic equations have also been developed for both the cases.
It has been observed that case A is more favorable for thermal energy point of view, while case B is suitable for electricity generation.
On the basis of the numerical calculations the annual thermal energy gain is found to be 4167.3 and 1023.7 and annual net electrical
energy gain is 320.65 and 1377.63 for cases A and B respectively. The annual overall thermal energy gain is decreased by 9.48% and
an annual overall exergy gain is increased by 39.16% from case A to case B.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Photovoltaic thermal; Constant collection temperature; Energy and exergy; Characteristic equation

1. Introduction
Energy analysis based on the rst law of thermodynamics is traditionally used in industries to carry out performance comparisons and optimization, which is concerned
with transfer and conservation of energy. It has some
inherent limitations, such as not characterizing the irreversibility of processes within the system. However, the transferring direction condition and grade of energy are
identied in the second law of thermodynamics. To achieve
a high eciency, there is increasing interest in the combined utilization of the rst and second law of thermodynamics, using exergy to evaluate the eciency. Exergy
analysis can be used to better understand the quality and
also to quantify the energy. The analysis technique helps
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9717720464.

E-mail address: bhu.rajeev@gmail.com (R.K. Mishra).

0038-092X/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2012.12.022

in identifying which parts of the system and what reasons

for energy loss, and shows avenues for performance
improvements (Ji and Chen, 2006). An exergy analysis
has proven to be a powerful tool in the thermodynamic
analyses of energy systems. In order to calculate exergy,
the reference environment must be specied. Exergy analysis is employed to detect and to evaluate quantitatively the
causes of the thermodynamic imperfection of the process
under consideration. Exergy analysis can, therefore, indicate the possibilities for thermodynamic improvement of
the process under consideration, but only an economic
analysis can decide the expediency of a possible improvement (Rosen and Dincer, 2003).
The photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems came into existence with an idea to utilize the thermal energy of the sun
along with the electricity. Use of thermal energy also
improves the energy and exergy eciency of the system
and helps to maintain a good electrical eciency of the

R.K. Mishra, G.N. Tiwari / Solar Energy 90 (2013) 5867

59

Nomenclature
A
C
F0
FR
h
PF1
PF2
I (t)
K
m_ f
Q_ u
T
Utc,a
UL,m

area, m2
specic heat, J/kg K
at plate collector eciency factor, dimensionless
ow rate factor, dimensionless
heat transfer coecient, W/m2
penalty factor rst, dimensionless
penalty factor second, dimensionless
incident solar intensity, W/m2
thermal conductivity, W/m K
rate of ow of water mass in collector, kg/s
rate of useful energy transfer, kW
temperature, C
total heat transfer coecient from solar cell to
ambient through glass cover, W/m2 K
an overall heat transfer coecient from blacken
surface to ambient, W/m2 K

PV system throughout its operation. The thermal energy

available on the PV surface can be utilized for low potential
works such as water and air heating. Further, the hot
water/air can be utilized for various applications such as,
to heat up living space, solar dryers (Barnwal and Tiwari,
2008), greenhouse (Nayak and Tiwari, 2008), and solar
stills (Kumar and Tiwari, 2009). Water collectors are used
to heat up the water for various domestic and industrial
applications. The domestic water heater generally uses at
plate collectors in parallel connection and run automatically with the thermo-siphon action, where as the industrial
water heater uses a number of at plate collectors connected in series and the thermo-siphon action does not
work in this case and hence it uses a photovoltaic (PV) driven water pump to maintain a ow of water inside the
water collector. Jones and Underwood (2001) have studied
the temperature prole of photovoltaic (PV) module in a
non-steady state condition with respect to time. They performed experiments for clear as well cloudy day condition
and observed that the PV module temperature varies
between 300 and 325 K (2752 C) for an ambient air temperature of 297.5 K (24.5 C). For water heating under
natural mode of operation, Huang et al. (2001) have studied experimentally the unglazed integrated photovoltaic
and thermal solar system (IPVTS). They observed that
the primary energy saving eciency of IPVTS exceeds
0.60 which is higher than that for a conventional solar
water heater or pure PV system. Kalogirou (2001) has studied the monthly performance of unglazed hybrid PVT system under forced mode of operation for climatic condition
of Southern Cyprus and observed an increase of the mean
annual eciency of PV solar system from 2.8% to 7.7%
with thermal eciency of 49%, respectively.

Subscripts
a
ambient
c
solar cell
f
uid
inlet uid
fi
fo
outlet uid
g
glass
m
module
N
number of collectors
Greek letters
a
absorptivity
(as)e product of eective absorptivity and eective
transmittivity
b
packing factor
gi
an instantaneous thermal eciency
s
transmittivity

Zondag et al. (2002) have developed a model of a hybrid

PVT water collector and performed experimental studies of
such systems for varying sizes. They have referred to hybrid
PVT as a combi-panel that converts solar energy into both
electrical and thermal energy. The electrical and thermal
eciency of combipanel were reported as 6.7% and 33%,
respectively. Unglazed hybrid photovoltaic thermal with
booster diuse reector was integrated with horizontal roof
of a building by Tripanagnostopoulos et al. (2002). They
suggested that PVT system with reector gives clearly
higher electrical and thermal output. They have also studied the performance characteristic of PV/water and PV/air
systems. Chow (2003) has analyzed the PVT water collector
with single glazing in a transient condition. The water tube
below absorber plate with metallic bond collector has been
used. It has been observed that an electrical thermal eciency is increased by 2% at mass ow rate of 0.01 kg/s.
He observed that photovoltaic conversion eciency at
the reduced temperature is increased by 2% at mass ow
rate of 0.01 kg/s for 10,000 W/(m2 K) plate to bond heat
transfer coecient. An additional thermal eciency of
60% was also observed. Zakharchenko et al. (2004) have
also studied unglazed hybrid PV thermal (PVT) system
with a suitable thermal contact between the panel and the
collector. They have proved that the areas of PV panel
and collector in PVT system need not be equal for higher
overall eciency. To operate PV module at low temperature, PV module should cover the low temperature part
of the collector (at cold water inlet portion). Ineld et al.
(2004) have derived an overall heat loss coecient (U)
and thermal energy gain factor (g) for ventilated vertical
photovoltaic (PV) module and double glazed window
(PV facades). The steady state analysis was used to

60

R.K. Mishra, G.N. Tiwari / Solar Energy 90 (2013) 5867

determine ventilation gains and transmission losses in terms

of irradiation (solar radiation) and various heat transfer process involved in facades. He observed that the ventilated
facades ensure that the electrical eciency of PV module is
improved due to low temperature (generally below 45 C).
Chow et al. (2006) has concluded that the tube-in-plate
absorber collector with single glazing has been regarded as
one of the most promising design. He has also concluded
that the partial covered at plate collector by PV module
gives better thermal and electrical output from the photovoltaic thermal (PVT) water heating system. He has concluded
his ndings on the basis of indoor simulation.
Tiwari and Sodha (2006a) have developed a thermal
model of integrated photovoltaic and thermal solar
(IPVTS) water/air heating system. They observed that an
overall thermal eciency of IPVTS system for summer
and winter conditions is about 65% and 77%, respectively.
Ji et al. (2007) have introduced hybrid PVT water-heating
system in natural circulation to generate electricity and
thermal power simultaneously. Robles-Ocampo et al.
(2007) have designed and made an original water-heating
planar collector and a set of reecting planes and concluded that the estimated overall solar energy utilization
eciency for the system related to the direct radiation ux
is of the order of 60%, with an electric eciency of 16.4%.
Zondag (2008) has carried out rigorous review on research
work of a PVthermal collector and system, carried out by
various scientists till 2006. His review includes the history
and importance of photovoltaic hybrid system and its
application in various sectors. Chow (2010) has carried
out review work on the research work of hybrid PVT technology. He recommended carrying out the work regarding
thermal absorber design and fabrication, material and
selective coating, energy conversion and eectiveness, performance testing, system optimization, control and reliability. Hybrid PVT is expected to have signicant market
expansion potential in the near future. Norton et al.
(2010) have given the solution to enhance the performance
of building integrated photovoltaic systems. Recently,
Tiwari et al. (2011) has made a review on the thermal modeling of the hybrid PVT systems. This review paper covers
detailed description and thermal model of PV and hybrid
PVT (HPVT) systems, using water and air as the working
uid. Based on their review it was concluded that PVT
modules are very promising devices and there exists a lot
of scope to further improve their performances. The relations between energy and exergy, energy and sustainable
development, exergy and the environment in detail are
reported by Dincer (2002). Energy and exergy analysis of
hybrid micro-channel photovoltaic thermal module has
been done by Agrawal and Tiwari (2011) and they compared the results with single channel PVT modules.
The numerical results of the present study have been
compared with the results obtained for suciently similar
model problem for at plate collector (FPC) presented by
Sodha et al. (1981) for constant collection temperature of
40 C.

Generally, it has been observed that the collection of hot

water with constant temperature has more demand in
industrial applications in contrast with constant ow of
hot water with varying temperature. Keeping this in mind,
an attempt has been made to study the detailed performance of hybrid PVT water collectors connected in series
by considering the two dierent cases, namely: case A (collector partially covered by PV module), case B (collector
fully covered by PV module) for New Delhi, India for constant collection temperature mode in this paper. The results
of cases A and B have also been compared with the results
of conventional at plate collector.
2. Working principle of hybrid photovoltaic thermal (HPVT)
water collector
The ow pattern of water in a hybrid photovoltaic thermal (HPVT) water collector when PV is integrated at the
bottom of the collector is shown in Fig. 1. A at plate collector with eective area of 2 m2 has been considered for
the study. The collector area is partially covered by glass
to glass type of PV module having as eective area of
0.605 m2. In the case of glass to glass type PV module
the solar radiation is transmitted through non packing area
of PV module and nally absorbed by the blackened absorber. Further, the thermal energy associated with PV module is transferred to absorber by convection for further
heating of absorber. The water below absorber gets heated
and moves in the upward direction in accordance with the
thermo-siphon process. The outlet of water at the end of
PV module-absorber combination becomes inlet to glassabsorber combination. Such collector is referred as photovoltaic thermal (PVT) water collector. The outlet of PVT
water collector (Tfo1) is further connected to the inlet of
the other hybrid at collector for higher operating temperature and so on. For constant collection temperature
mode, the outlet temperature is kept constant by changing
mass ow rate by using temperature sensors. For a given
outlet temperature, dierent mass ow rates can be
achieved by varying the values of solar intensity and ambient temperatures.

Tfi

PV module

Glazing surface

Thermal absorber

Tfo1
Cut section
of tube
Inlet

Outlet

Thermal Insulation

Metallic

Fig. 1. Cross sectional side view of a PV integrated single glazed at plate

collector.

R.K. Mishra, G.N. Tiwari / Solar Energy 90 (2013) 5867

Data of solar radiation and ambient temperature for different weather conditions of New Delhi have been taken
from Indian Metrological Department (IMD), Pune, India.

Tfo,1

61
Tfo,2

Outlet

Tfo,3

TfoN

3. Thermal analysis
For the present study, a conventional tube-in-plate-type
collector of an eective area of 2 m2 is considered.

Tfi

1st

2nd

3rd

Nth

Fig. 2b. Collectors partially covered by PV module and connected in

series.

3.1. Flat plate collector (FPC) (Fig. 2a)

Following Due and Beckman (1991) and Tiwari
(2002), the outlet water temperature from Nth collector
can be written as




asc;eff It
F 0 NAc U L;c
T foN
Ta
1  exp 
U L;c
m_ f C f


0
F NAc U L;c
T fi exp 
m_ f C f
1a
For the present study of constant collection temperature
mode TfoN = To = constant.
For, TfoN = To = constant, in Eq. (1a), an expression for
mass ow rate m_ f can be derived as
m_ f

Inlet

F 0 NAc U L;c
n

o
n

oi
asc;eff It
asc;eff It
 log T o 
C f log T fi 
Ta
Ta
U L;c
U L;c
h

1b

The above equation will be suitable to optimize the mass

ow rate for a given constant collection temperature (To)
especially for industrial applications.
3.2. Hybrid PVT water collectors
In this section, two congurations of hybrid PVT water
collector have been considered.
3.2.1. Case A: collectors are partially covered by
semitransparent PV modules (Fig. 2b)
Following Dubey and Tiwari (2009), the outlet water
temperature (TfoN) is written as

T foN

where



AF R as1 1  K NK
It
1  KK
m_ f C f


AF R U L 1 1  K NK

T a T fi K NK
1  KK
m_ f C f

AF R U L 1
KK 1 
m_ f C f



Ac F Rc U L;c
AF R as1 Am F Rm PF 2 asm;eff 1 
m_ f C f

Ac F Rc asc;eff
and





Ac F Rc U L;c
AF R U L 1 Am F Rm U L;m 1 
Ac F Rc U L;c
m_ f C f
In this case, the mass ow rate m_ f for a given constant
collection temperature (TfoN = To) have been obtained by
ITERATION method, due to the non linear behavior.
3.2.2. Case B: Collectors are fully covered by
semitransparent PV module (Fig. 2c)
Following Dubey and Tiwari (2009), the outlet water
temperature (TfoN) is written as




PF 2 asm;eff It
NF 0 AU L;m
T oN
T a 1  exp 
U L;m
m_ f C f


0
NF AU L;m
T fi exp 
m_ f C f
3a
For, TfoN = To, one gets

Tfo,1

Tfo,2

Outlet

Tfo,3

Tfo,1

Tfo,2

Outlet

Tfo,3

TfoN

TfoN

Inlet

Inlet
Tfi

Tfi

1st

2nd

3rd

Nth

Fig. 2a. Conventional at plate collectors connected in series.

1st

2nd

3rd

Nth

Fig. 2c. Collectors fully covered by PV modules and connected in series.

62
m_ f

R.K. Mishra, G.N. Tiwari / Solar Energy 90 (2013) 5867

NF 0 Am U L;m
n

o
n

oi
PF 2 asm;eff It
PF 2 asm;eff It
 log T o 
C f log T fi 
Ta
Ta
U L;m
U L;m
h

3b

3.6. Electrical energy gain

The rate of electrical energy obtained from N identical
hybrid PVT collectors for cases A and B can be given as

3.3. Useful thermal energy gain

E_ l;net

The rate of useful thermal energy obtained from N identical collectors connected in series can be given as

Following Tiwari (2003) the power consumed by the pump

(Pcon,pump) at various mass ow rates of water in the tube of
collector can be given as

Q_ u;thermal m_ f C f T o  T a

Eq. (4) can be used for all cases including conventional at

plate collector (FPC).
3.4. Instantaneous thermal eciency
For known value of Q_ u , from Eq. (4), an instantaneous
thermal eciency of all cases of hybrid PVT water collector
can be dened as follows
Q_ u
gi
N c  Ac  It

3.5. Temperature dependent electrical eciency

electrical

P con;pump

gm  Am  N m  It

m_ f  q  g  H
gpump

7a

7b

where m_ f is ow capacity (m3/s), q is density of water (kg/

m3), g is acceleration due to gravity (m/s2), H is dierential
head (m) and gpump is the pump eciency (%).
3.7. Overall thermal energy gain
We have two forms of energy namely, thermal and electrical energy. In order to evaluate an overall thermal energy
gain, the net electrical energy should be converted into
equivalent thermal energy and then added to the thermal
energy as follows
Overall thermal output from a PVT system

The open circuit voltage and the ll factor decrease substantially with temperature (as the thermally excited electrons begin to dominate the electrical properties of the
semi-conductor), while the short-circuit current increases,
but only slightly (Zondag, 2008). The combined eect is
given by the formula (Schott, 1985; Evans, 1981):
gc g0 1  bT c  25

6a

where go is eciency at standard test condition

(I(t) = 1000 W/m2 and Tc = 25 C), Tc is solar cell temperature and b is electrical eciency temperature coecient.
The value of b depends on the PV material used: about
0.0045/K for crystalline silicon, 0.0035/K for CIS, 0.0025/
K for CdTe and 0.002/K for a-Si.
Further the electrical eciency of PV module is given by
gm gc sg ac bc

6b

The solar cell temperature, Tc for both the case can be

calculated by using the expression given by Dubey and
Tiwari (2008) as
Tc

as1;eff It U tc;a T a hc;p T p

U tc;a hc;p

6c

where
Tp

as2;eff It PF 1 as1;eff It U L1 T a hp;f To

U L1 hp;f

thermal energy collected by the PVT system

net electrical output=C power
where Cpower is the conversion eciency of thermal power
plant which depends on quality of coal used. Cpower is
0.38 for good quality of coal with low ash content (Huang
et al., 2001). The value of Cpower varies between 0.20 and
0.40.
In mathematical form
P
X
X
E_ l;net electrical
Q_ u;overall
8
Q_ u;thermal
0:38
3.8. Overall exergy gain
The exergy analysis is based on the second law of thermodynamics. Overall exergy of the PVT water collector
can be given as
Overall exergy Thermal exergy Electrical exergy
or,
_ thermal Ex
_ electrical
overall exergy Ex

9a

where
6d

For known collection temperature (To), the plate temperature (Tp) and the corresponding solar cell temperature
(Tc) can be evaluated from Eqs. (6d) and (6c) respectively.
Then using the value of Tc in Eqs. (6a) and (6b) the instantaneous electrical eciency of PV module can be evaluated.



_ thermal Q_ u 1  T a 273
Ex
by Carnots efficiency
T fo 273
9b
and
_ electrical gc  Ac  N c  I ex
Ex
where (Petela, 2003)

9c

R.K. Mishra, G.N. Tiwari / Solar Energy 90 (2013) 5867

"

 
 4 #
4
Ta
1 Ta

I ex It 1  
3
3 Ts
Ts

9d

4. Characteristic equations
An instantaneous thermal eciency and electrical eciency of hybrid PVT water collector for cases A and B have
T a
been plotted with respect to T mIt
as shown in Figs. 4a and 4b
respectively. Here, T m is considered as the average of module
temperature (Tm) and constant collection temperature (To).
The results obtained in gures have been used to develop
characteristic equation for constant collection temperature
mode of hybrid PVT water collector by using linear regression analysis. The characteristic equations for thermal and
electrical eciency are given as follows
For case A
gi;thermal % 45:95  427:2T m  T a =It

10a

gi;thermal in fraction 0:46  4:27T m  T a =It

10b

and
gi;electrical % 10:48  18:70T m  T a =It

11a

gi;electrical in fraction 0:10  0:19T m  T a =It

11b

For case B
gi;th % 28:29  290Tm  Ta=It

12a

gi;th in fraction 0:29  2:90Tm  Ta=It

12b

and
gi;el % 10:04  11:25Tm  Ta=It

13a

gi;el in fraction 0:10  0:11Tm  Ta=It

13b

Above equations are similar to HottelWhillerBliss

(HWB) equation given as
gi F R as  F R U L

T fi  T a
It

The gain factors and loss coecients for thermal and

electrical eciency for both the cases have been summarized in Table 2.

63

Step 4: the annual thermal gain has been calculated by

summing the monthly thermal energy gain for ad type
weather condition.
For evaluating annual electrical energy similar methodology has been adopted as for annual thermal energy gains
(steps 14) by using Eqs. (6a)(6d), (7a) and (7b).
6. Results and discussion
Performance of the hybrid PVT water collector at constant collection temperature is evaluated by considering
four types of weather conditions a, b, c and d as dened
by Dubey and Tiwari (2009), for New Delhi climatic condition. The hourly variation of solar intensity and ambient
temperature for a typical day in the month of March is
shown in Fig. 3. The values of design parameters are given
in Table 1.
Figs. 4a and 4b respectively show the characteristic
equations for cases A and B. From gures, it is observed
that thermal eciency is signicantly higher than electrical
eciency as expected. The numerical values of gain and
loss factors are shown in Table 2. From table, it is clear
that the losses in thermal eciency are higher in comparison to losses in electrical eciency for both the cases. This
is because of the high operating temperature of the PVT
water collector. Also, the gains in thermal eciency are
higher for case A because of the lesser area of collector is
covered by PV module in this case. Eq. (2) has been computed for known design and climatic parameters (Table 1
and Fig. 3), to have dierent values of mass ow rate
m_ f for a given constant collection temperature (To).
The results are shown in Fig. 5a. From gure, it is clear
that (i) the mass ow rate increases with the time of the
day due to increase of solar intensity and (ii) the maximum
value of mass ow rate m_ f decreases with increase of constant collection temperature (To) as expected. Eqs. (1b) and
(3b) have been computed for N = 3 and To = 40 C and the
result has been given in Fig. 5b. This gure indicates that
the maximum value of mass ow rate m_ f and duration
of hot water availability decreases from FPC to case A followed by case B due to decrease in glazing area (direct solar

5. Methodology
I(t)

Ta

1000

30

800

25
20

600

15
400

Ta,OC

Step 1: the hourly rate of useful thermal energy gain for

clear day of each month can be obtained by using Eq.
(4) by considering N = 3 and To = 40 C.
Step 2: daily thermal gains for ad type weather condition have been calculated by summing the hourly useful
thermal energy gains as evaluated in step 1.
Step 3: monthly thermal gain has been calculated by
multiplying the daily thermal energy gain and number
of clear days in a month for ad type weather condition.

I(t) (W/m2)

The annual thermal energy and net electrical energy can

be obtained as follows:

10

200

0
8

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Time (hour)
Fig. 3. Hourly variation of solar intensity and ambient temperature for a
typical day in the month of March.

64

R.K. Mishra, G.N. Tiwari / Solar Energy 90 (2013) 5867

Table 1
Design parameters of photovoltaic thermal (PVT) water collector.

Table 2
Gain factor and loss coecient for hybrid PVT water collector.

Parameters

S. no.

Cases

Gain factor
Thermal

Electrical

Thermal

Electrical

1
2

A
B

0.46
0.29

0.10
0.10

4.27
2.29

0.19
0.11

Loss coecient

0.04

for Tfo= 30oC

for Tfo= 40oC
for Tfo= 50oC

0.03

for Tfo= 60oC

0.02

2.0 m
0.605 m2
4190 J/kg K
0.968
0.95
0.94
0.96
1.7 m
5.7 W/m2
100 W/m2
0.357
0.965
204 W/m C
3.0 W/m2 C
3.44 W/m2 C
9.5 W/m2 C
1.0 m/s
75%
095
0.90
0.89
0.12
0.80

mf (kg/s)

AC
Am
Cf
F0
FRc1
FRc2
FRm
H
hc,p
hp,f
PF1
PF2
K
ULC
ULm
Utc,a
V
gpump
sg
ac
bc
go
ap

Values

0.01
0
8

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Time (hour)
Fig. 5a. Hourly variation of mass ow rate for dierent collection
temperatures for case A.

m
m(F
FPC)

m(ccase A)

m
m(case
B
B)

Pm
m(casse A
A)

Pm
m(casse B)

0.04

0.03

mf

0.02

0.01

0
8.00

99.00

10.00

11.00

112.00

13.00

14.00

115.00

16.00

Time (hour)
Fig. 5b. Hourly variation of mass ow rate and power consumed by the
water pump for dierent congurations (N = 3 and Tfo = 40 C).

Fig. 4a. Variation of instantaneous thermal and electrical eciencies v/s

(Tm  Ta)/I(t) for collector partially covered by PV module (case A).
1000

FPC
C

case A

casse B

600
400

Qu, thermal (kWh)

800

A
Annuual
FPC=
= 72245.69 kkWhh
Wh
caase A
A= 41667.3 kW
caase B
B=110233.7 kkWhh

200
0
A
SEP OCT
O NOV DEC
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG

Month of year

Fig. 4b. Variation of instantaneous thermal and electrical eciencies v/s

(Tm  Ta)/I(t) for collector fully covered by PV module (case B).

radiation) of hybrid PVT water collector. These are the

expected results which have also been discussed later on.
The power consumed by the pump for dierent mass ow

Fig. 6a. Monthly variation of thermal energy gain for dierent congurations (N = 3 and Tfo = 40 C).

rates has been calculated by using Eq. (7b) and results

are shown in Fig. 5b. It is clear from gure that power
more power will be consumed by the pump at higher mass
ow rates.

R.K. Mishra, G.N. Tiwari / Solar Energy 90 (2013) 5867

casse A

case B

A
Annnual
ccasee A=
= 3220.655 kW
Wh
ccasee B=
=13777.663 kW
Wh

120

Ei

80

FPC
600% pparttiallyy coovered
fuully ccoveeredd

4.0

Q , thermal (kWh)

160

65
330% parrtiallly coveered
9
90%
parrtiallly coveered

3.0
2.0
1.0

40
0.0
8.00

9.00 10.00 11.00

1
12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00

Time (hour)
JAN FEB MAR APR M
MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP O
OCT N
NOV DEC

Fig. 8a. Hourly variation of thermal energy gain for dierent coverage
rates of PVT collector (N = 3 and Tfo = 40 C).

Month of year
Fig. 6b. Monthly variation of net electrical energy gain for dierent
congurations (N = 3 and Tfo = 40 C).

400
300
200

Q u, oerall thermal ( kWh)

500

30%
% cooverred
% cooverred
90%

0.6

Ei , net electrical (kWh)

A
Annuual
ccase I= 50988.8 kkWh
ccase II=44615.100 kW
Wh

600

660%
% covvereed
ffullyy covvereed

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0

100

8.00

9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00

Time (hour)

0
O N
NOV D
DEC
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT

Fig. 8b. Hourly variation of electrical energy gain for dierent coverage
rates of PVT collector (N = 3 and Tfo = 40 C).

Month of year
Fig. 7a. Monthly variation of overall thermal energy gain for dierent
congurations (N = 3 and Tfo = 40 C).

casse A

case B

A
Annnuall

180

120
90
60

E x,Overall (kWh)

150

30
0
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG S
SEP OCT NOV DEC

Month of year
Fig. 7b. Monthly variation of overall exergy gain for dierent congurations (N = 3 and Tfo = 40 C).

Based on methodology given in Section 5, the

monthly thermal, net electrical energy gain and overall
thermal and exergy gains have been obtained and
reported in Figs. 6a and 6b and 7a and 7b respectively.
From Fig. 6a, one can observe that the thermal energy is
maximum throughout the year for FPC. A water motor
is needed for force mode of operation. To meet the electrical power of water motor, one has to adopt case A or
case B. Hence these cases are suitable to sustain the
hybrid PVT water collector in remote areas of developing/under developing countries where grid connected

electrical power is not easily available. In these cases,

the area of PV module in each hybrid collector should
be optimized to meet the demand of electrical motor
for force mode of operation. As expected, case B gives
the minimum thermal energy throughout the year. From
Fig. 6b, the monthly electrical energy gain in case B is
higher than case A because of lager area of collector is
covered by PV module in case B. Also, it is observed
that the electrical energy gain is maximum in summer
months and minimum in winter month because of higher
intensity of solar radiation in summer months.
Figs. 7a and 7b show that the annual gains in overall
thermal energy and overall exergy are 5098.8 kW h and
1122.7 kW h in case A and 4615.0 kW h and
1562.4 kW h in case B respectively. The hourly variation
of thermal and electrical energy gain with dierent coverage rates of PVT collector are shown in Figs. 8a and 8b
respectively. It is observed that the thermal energy gain
decreases and electrical energy gain increases with the
increases of covered area of collector by PV module, as
expected. Annual thermal and electrical energy gain for
hybrid PVT water collector with the varying covered
area by PV module is shown in Fig. 9. These results
are most suitable for manufacturers. If users demand lies
on thermal energy then partially covered hybrid PVT
water collector (case A) is more suitable. In case of priority of electrical power fully covered hybrid PVT water
collector is desirable.

66

R.K. Mishra, G.N. Tiwari / Solar Energy 90 (2013) 5867

Fig. 9. Variation of annual thermal energy gain and annual electrical

energy gain with percentage of collector area covered by PV module
(N = 3 and Tfo = 40 C).

Fig. 11. Variation of instantaneous thermal eciency with (To  Ta)/I(t)

for dierent congurations.

7. Numerical accuracy assessment

To compare the numerical results with the results of a
suciently similar model, the root mean square percent
deviation (e) have been evaluated by using the following
expression
s
P 2
ei
root mean square percent deviation e
14
N
where


Xi  Yi
ei
 100
Xi
This indicates the percent deviation of Yi (calculated values
of parameters) from Xi (values of parameters obtained
from the similar model) and N is the number of
observations.
The hourly variation of instantaneous thermal eciency
and the characteristic curves for all the cases is shown in
Figs. 10 and 11 respectively. It is observed that the overall
thermal eciency of FPC by the present model is very close
to the results reported by Sodha et al. (1981). A percent
deviation (ei) of 1.6%, 18.6% and 59.4% is observed in
the overall thermal eciency for FPC, cases A and B
respectively. The root mean square percent deviation (e)
is calculated by using Eq. (14) and are found to be 8.64,

14.05 and 48.19 for FPC, cases A and B respectively as

compared with the results obtained by Sodha et al.
(1981). The signicant deviation in cases A and B is
because of the fact that the partially/fully covered FPC
gives the lower thermal energy gain as shown in Fig. 6a.
8. Conclusions
In this paper, hybrid PVT water collector has been studied with dierent congurations for constant collection
temperature mode of operation. On the basis of the present
study, the following conclusions have been drawn:
(i) To obtain the hot water at a constant temperature,
variation of the mass ow rate of the water in the
tube of the collector should be regulated.
(ii) Case A is useful for the users whose primary requirement is hot water production and case B is benecial
for the users whose primary requirement is electricity
generation.
(iii) The annual thermal energy gain is found to be
4167.3 and 1023.7 and net annual electrical energy
gain is 320.65 and 1377.63 for cases A and B
respectively.
(iv) The annual overall thermal energy gain is decreased
by 9.48% and annual overall exergy gain is increased
by 39.16% from case A to case B.

9. Recommendations
On the basis of the present studies, following recommendations have been made:

Fig. 10. Hourly variation of instantaneous thermal eciency for dierent

congurations.

(i) Other solar thermal (PVT) systems (i.e. solar still,

biogas plant, aquaculture, etc.) should be studied
with dierent hybrid PVT congurations.
(ii) Hybrid PVT water collector integrated with building
(BIPV system) should be studied for thermal and
electrical gains.

R.K. Mishra, G.N. Tiwari / Solar Energy 90 (2013) 5867

References
Agrawal, S., Tiwari, G.N., 2011. Energy and exergy analysis of hybrid
micro-channel photovoltaic thermal module. Solar Energy 85, 356
370.
Barnwal, P., Tiwari, G.N., 2008. Design, construction and testing of
hybrid photovoltaic integrated green house dryer. International
Journal of Agriculture Research 3 (2), 110120.
Chow, T.T., 2003. Performance analysis of photovoltaicthermal collector
by explicit dynamic model. Solar Energy 75, 143152.
Chow, T.T., 2010. A review on photovoltaic/thermal hybrid solar
technology. Applied Energy 87, 365379.
Chow, T.T., He, W., Ji, J., 2006. Hybrid photovoltaicthermosyphon
water heating system for residential application. Solar Energy 80, 298
306.
Dincer, I., 2002. The role of exergy in energy policy making. Energy Policy
30, 137149.
Dubey, S., Tiwari, G.N., 2008. Thermal modeling of a combined system of
photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) solar water heater. Solar Energy 82 (7),
602612.
Dubey, S., Tiwari, G.N., 2009. Analysis of partially covered PV/T at plat
collectors connected in series. Solar Energy 83 (9), 14851498.
Due, J.A., Beckman, W.A., 1991. Solar Engineering of Thermal
Processes. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Evans, D.L., 1981. Simplied method for predicting PV array output.
Solar Energy 27, 555560.
Huang, B.J., Lin, T.H., Hung, W.C., Sun, F.S., 2001. Performance
evaluation of solar photovoltaic/thermal systems. Solar Energy 70 (5),
443448.
Ineld, D., Mei, L., Eicker, U., 2004. Thermal performance estimation of
ventilated PV facades. Solar Energy 76 (13), 9398.
Ji, X., Chen, G.Q., 2006. Exergy analysis of energy utilization in the
transportation sector in China. Energy Policy 34, 17091719.
Ji, J., Lu, J.P., Chow, T.T., He, W., Pei, G., 2007. A sensitivity study of a
hybrid photovoltaic/thermal water-heating system with natural circulation. Applied Energy 84, 222223.
Jones, A.D., Underwood, C.P., 2001. A thermal model for photovoltaic
systems. Solar Energy 70 (4), 349359.
Kalogirou, S.A., 2001. Use of TRYNSYS for modeling and simulation of
a hybrid PVthermalsolar system for Cyprus. Renewable Energy 23,
247260.
Kumar, Shiv, Tiwari, G.N., 2009. Estimation of internal heat transfer
coecients of a hybrid (PV/T) active solar still. Solar Energy 83, 1656
1667.

67

Nayak, S., Tiwari, G.N., 2008. Energy and exergy analysis of photovoltaic/thermal integrated with a solar greenhouse. Energy and Buildings
40, 20152021.
Norton, B., Philip, C., Tapas, K.M., Huang, M.J., McCormack, S.J.,
Mondol, J.D., Yigzaw, G.Y., 2010. Enhancing the performance of
building integrated photovoltaics. Solar Energy 85, 16291664.
Petela, R., 2003. Exergy of undiluted thermal radiation. Solar Energy 74
(6), 469488.
Robles-Ocampo, B., Ruz-Vasquez, E., Canseco-Sanchez, H., CornejoMeza, R.C., Tra paga-Martnez, G., Garca-Rodriguez, F.J., Gonzalez-Hernandeze, J., Vorobiev, Y.V., 2007. Photovoltaic/thermal solar
hybrid system with bifacial PV module and transparent plane collector.
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 91, 19661971.
Rosen, M.A., Dincer, I., 2003. Exergy methods for assessing and
comparing thermal storage systems. International Journal of Energy
Research 27 (4), 415430.
Schott, T., 1985. Operational temperatures of PV modules. In: Proceedings of 6th PV Solar Energy Conference, pp. 392396.
Sodha, M.S., Shukla, S.N., Tiwari, G.N., 1981. Transient analysis of
forced circulation solar water heating system. Energy Conversion and
Management 22, 5562.
Tiwari, G.N., 2002. Solar Energy: Fundamentals, Design, Modeling and
Applications. Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi.
Tiwari, G.N., 2003. Green House Technology for a Controlled Environment. Alpha Science International, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Tiwari, A., Sodha, M.S., 2006a. Performance evaluation of hybrid PV/
thermal water/air heating system: a parametric study. Renewable
Energy 31 (15), 24602474.
Tiwari, G.N., Mishra, R.K., Solanki, S.C., 2011. Photovoltaic modules
and their applications: a review on thermal modelling. Applied Energy
88, 22872304.
Tripanagnostopoulos, Y., Nousia, T.H., Souliotis, M., Yianoulis, P.,
2002. Hybrid photovoltaic/thermal solar system. Solar Energy 72 (3),
217234.
Zakharchenko, R., Licea-Jimenez, L., Perez-Garcia, S.A., Vorobiev, P.,
Dehesa-Carrasco, U., Perez-Robels, J.F., 2004. Photovoltaic solar
panel for a hybrid PV/thermal system. Solar Energy Materials and
Solar Cell 82 (12), 253261.
Zondag, H.A., 2008. Flat-plate PVThermal collectors and systems: a
review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 12 (4), 891959.
Zondag, H.A., de Vries, D.W., van Helden, W.G.J., van Zolengen, R.J.C.,
Steenhoven, A.A., 2002. The thermal and electrical yield of a PV
thermal collector. Solar Energy 72 (2), 113128.