Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society ISSN:1598-6411(Print) 2508-3562(Online) 한국태양에너지학회 논문집

BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) is a building envelope technology that converts solar energy into electrical energy, but heat is dissipated at the back of the BIPV module during the production of electrical energy. However, PVT collectors are devices that produce electricity on the front of the PV and concurrently use heat generated from the back of the PV module. Therefore, in buildings that require heating loads, the PVT system can use both electrical and thermal energies directly; hence, its solar energy utilization rate is higher than that of the BIPV and solar thermal systems. In this study, a new PVT collector using air as the heating medium was newly designed and fabricated, and the thermal and electrical performances were analyzed through outdoor experiments. A baffle applied to the air layer in the collector was designed earlier to improve the thermal performance through CFD simulation analysis. This study analyzed the thermal and electrical characteristics according to the inlet flow rate, solar radiation intensity, and temperature at the back of the PV module of a new type of air-type PVT collector. Consequently, when the inlet flow rate of the collector increased to 100 ~ 200 m³/h, it was confirmed that the thermal efficiency was 22.7 ~ 50% and the electrical efficiency was 15.75 ~ 16.54%.