Energy performance of a photovoltaic/thermal module with microchannel heat pipe and dual-passage manifold: Numerical modeling, experimental validation and parametric assessment

Photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system has been widely recognized as an effective energy supplier for simultaneously generating electricity and heat; however, improving heat recovery capacity while maintaining high electrical efficiency is one of key challenges. In this study, a PV/T module is established to enhance thermal management and overall energy efficiency, a microchannel heat pipe (MCHP) and a dual-passage manifold are adopted in the module for efficient thermal energy collection. A quasi-two-dimensional mathematical model of the PV/T-MCHP module is developed to evaluate the module energy performance and clarify the key design parameter influences. Experimental tests are also conducted by using a solar simulator, the numerical results agree well with experimental data, with discrepancies of less than 7%. The PV/T-MCHP module can effectively reduce the PV operating temperature and improve energy performance, the module maintains the PV temperature at 67.66 °C and realizes electrical efficiency of 11.15%, compared with 83.13 °C and 10.18% for the standalone PV panel at the solar irradiance of 940 W/m 2 and ambient temperature of 37 °C. The module reaches average electrical, thermal and weighted overall energy efficiencies of 11.87%, 47.10% and 73.71% experimentally, and achieves the maximum weighted overall energy efficiency of 82.90% numerically. These results demonstrate that the MCHP and dual-passage manifold can improve the PV/T energy performance significantly, offering a promising approach for efficient solar energy collection.