DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF EVACUATED PHOTOVOLTAIC-THERMAL SYSTEMS FOR EFFICIENT COGENERATION OF HEAT AND ELECTRICITY

In conventional PV systems, most of the solar energy is dissipated into the environment as heat. Accordingly, hybrid Photovoltaic-thermal systems have been developed to utilize the waste heat from PV cells for various thermal applications. However, most PVT systems suffer from low thermal performance compared to solar thermal collectors, as the absorber plate in PVT systems is partially or fully covered by PV cells. This dissertation focuses on improving the thermal performance of PVT systems by introducing the evacuated PVT systems. An evacuated-tube PVT system was designed and simulated for domestic hot water supply. The evacuated-tube PVT system demonstrated 40% higher thermal performance compared to conventional PVT systems. Additionally, an evacuated flat-plate PVT system was developed and tested as a novel design. The system achieved a total efficiency of 85.21% under solar irradiance of 985 W/m². Furthermore, the effect of utilizing different nanoparticles was investigated.