Energetic and experimental analysis of an innovative PV/T module

Commercial photovoltaic modules have nowadays an efficiency around 12%-15%. It means that the most relevant part of solar radiation is lost. Such a remark gets more importance if the active surface is located in an urban environment, where the availability of surfaces exposed to the sun is scarce if compared to the buildings thermal loads. PhotoVoltaic / Thermal cogeneration (PV/T) aims to utilize the same area both for producing electricity and heat. Typical PV/T modules are made of a Photovoltaic layer physically coupled (by high thermal conductive glues or films) to a Thermal plate (typically copper or aluminium). The paper reports on the experimental results of different kinds of PV/T modules tested at the Department of Management and Engineering (University of Padova, Italy) in different conditions of solar radiation, inlet fluid temperature and flow rate. The paper reports also on the construction of an innovative module with a semitransparent PV layer substituting the glass of a thermal collector; it is studied by a numerical simulation developed in Trnsys to evaluate the energetic viability of the proposed PV/T technology and it will be tested outdoor during spring/summer 2010.