Experimental and numerical study of thermal and electrical potential of BIPV/T collector in the form of air-cooled photovoltaic roof tile.

• Numerical and experimental results for air-cooled PV roof tile were compared. • SST k-ω turbulence model and Discrete Ordinates radiation model were used. • Greater heat recovery was obtained for the air flow duct with a lower height. • The maximum increase in generated power relative to the uncooled module was 11.63 %. • The highest received heat flux was 330 W/m2 at solar irradiance equal to 900 W/m2. Among renewable energy sources, Building-Integrated Photovoltaic/Thermal (BIPV/T) systems are gaining increasing interest. To improve their economic competitiveness, technologies that increase their efficiency are searched for. The paper is devoted to evaluating the impact of various air-cooling configurations on the thermal and electrical performance of a photovoltaic roof tile. A numerical model of the own experimental system was developed in the ANSYS Fluent software for a wide range of input variables. The original approach based on the SST k-ω turbulence model, Discrete Ordinates radiation model, and the use of Solar Load module were proposed. Such a numerical model allows representation of semi-transparent layers and variable solar irradiance, which is a unique realization of real system modelling. Numerous analyses conducted indicate a higher heat recovery potential for an airflow duct with a height of 25 mm for all configurations analysed. The highest value of recovered heat flux was approximately 330 W/m2 under conditions of a volumetric air flow rate of 7.5 m3/h and solar irradiance equal to 900 W/m2. Good agreement of the results of the multivariant CFD simulations with new experimental ones was confirmed. Insight into the flow phenomena behind the achieved thermal results supplemented the knowledge. The highest electrical efficiency obtained experimentally was 5.76 % for a channel with a height of 50 mm, volumetric flow rate equal to 7.5 m3/h and solar irradiance equal to 600 W/m2. The presented methodology and the results obtained can be useful in research devoted to optimising BIPV/T air-based cooling systems, which will then be tested in-situ. Moreover, new experimental data collection can be used for the verification of numerical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]