Comparative analysis of air-based Photovoltaic Thermal (PVT) systems with enhanced performance through fins and baffles: Experimental and CFD study

This paper presents a study focusing on the performance evaluation of an air-based Photovoltaic Thermal (PVT) system equipped with fins and baffles, denoted as Model 1, alongside Model 2 and Model 3. The investigation aims to understand how a single mass flow rate can lead to variations in performance, pressure drop, irreversibility, exit temperature, maximum surface temperature, and heat loss among these different models. Experiments were conducted with three models under a constant volume flow rate of 0.00847 kg/s, and the findings were verified using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. During the experimental phase, all three models exhibited efficiency levels ranging from 22.79 % to 44.70 %. The exergy effectiveness across the CFD-simulated scenarios for these models spanned from 24.32 % to 45.40 %. Model 1 showed the highest irreversibility, measuring 354 W, while Model 3 displayed the lowest at 269 W. Model 3 achieved the highest performance efficiency, reaching 45.40 %, whereas Model 1 yielded the lowest performance, registering at 22.79 %. Furthermore, a substantial performance improvement of 38 % and 56 % was observed when transitioning from Model 2 to Model 3.