Energy Analysis of Concentrated Photovoltaic/Thermal Panels with Nanofluids

Abstract

In this study, a prototype system was established for location heating application and electricity generation through utilizing two concentrated photovoltaic thermal panels (CPV/T) possessing flat surface receivers connected in series with each other. The purpose of the system is to supply the heating needs of a room in winter season and to meet the electricity requirement of the equipment used in this system. In the analysis of the installed system, different refrigerants (10% mono propylene glycol + 90% water and 0.5% Al2O3-water nanofluid) were tested at three different flow rates (0.4 m3/h, 0.5 m3/h, 0.6 m3/h). Throughout the experiments, the fan-coil air outlet temperature used to heat the room was adjusted to 35 °C with an inverter and a process control device. The results attained from the experiments carried out using different fluids throughout different months and days (April-May) have demonstrated that the thermal and electrical efficiencies of the system are found to be in good agreement with each other when evaluated in terms of the fluids utilized. The highest electrical energy recovery was found as 268 W at 0.6 m3/h flow rate for propylene glycol-water mixture and 194 W at 0.5 m3/h flow rate for nanomixture. The total thermal energy efficiency for the system using different fluids was found to be around 22%. The total thermal energy gain of the system was also calculated as 2312 W at 0.6 m3/h for the propylene glycol mixture and 2041 W at 0.5 m3/h for the nanomixture.