Optimum design for residential photovoltaic-thermal binary utilization system by minimizing auxiliary energy.

Possible designs for a self-sufficient residential binary solar energy include a side-by-side system, a PVT hybrid system, and a side-by-side PVT hybrid system. We designed and performed an annual performance simulation of three systems: PV with flat plate collector (PV/FPC), photovoltaic-thermal hybrid (PVT), and PV with photovoltaic-thermal hybrid (PV/PVT) including an electrical auxiliary heat pump. In this paper, the solar energy fraction (SEF) or auxiliary energy fraction (AUX) is used as a figure of merit for system evaluation. These indices are shown to be affected by the COP (coefficient of performance) of AUX and by the ratio of the DHW (domestic hot water) load to the annual synthetic load. The best results were achieved by the side-by-side PV/PVT hybrid system. Using PVT with PV leads to an improvement of the SEF or AEF compared with the PVT system alone. Glazing is found to be indispensable for the PV/PVT system with an AUX COP of 1, but is unnecessary for a PV/PVT system with a higher COP. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 137(1): 28–35, 2001 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]