Overall efficiency of PV/T system traversed by natural convection airflow in hot climate

In this work, an experimental investigation on the hybrid solar collector in a hot climate is presented. This collector consists of photovoltaic / thermal (PV/T) panel which contains a photovoltaic module and a solar thermal collector. This system produces simultaneously electricity and heat. According to PV/T uses, the collector can be operated with air / water as a using fluid. The combination of a PV panel with thermal collector contributes to temperature increase of the PV module which reduces its efficiency. In order to ameliorate the air-based PV/T efficiency, the hot air should be extracted. In this experiment, a PV/T collector with mono-crystalline cells is designed. The experimental investigation is performed for evaluate thermal and electrical efficiency. The results indicate that the global efficiency of the system is significantly improved; however the electrical efficiency is slightly increased.