Performance of photovoltaic thermal collector (PVT) with different absorbers design

Much effort has been spent on the development of hybrid PVT, in order to improve it efficiency of both, thermal and cell. The combination of thermal and cell efficiencies, which is commonly known as "total efficiency of the PVT", is influenced by many system design parameters and operating conditions. Due to that, seven new design configurations of absorber collectors are designed, investigated and compared. Simulations were performed to determine the best absorber design that gives the highest efficiency (total efficiency). In these simulations, the system is analyzed with various parameters, such as solar radiation, ambient temperature, and flow rate conditions. It is assumed that the collector is represented as a flat plate thermal collector with single glazing sheet. Based on these simulations, spiral flow design proved to be the best design with the highest thermal efficiency of 50.12% and corresponding cell efficiency of 11.98%.