Mohsen Mahdavi Adeli - Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Sistan & Baluchestan Zahedan, Iran
Faramarz Sarhaddi - Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Sistan & Baluchestan Zahedan, Iran
Said Farahat - Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Sistan & Baluchestan Zahedan, Iran

In this paper, the experimental performance evaluation of a solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector is carried out. An experimental setup for a PV/T air collector is built to measure its thermal and electrical parameters. A detailed thermal and electrical model is developed to simulate PV/T air collector thermal and electrical parameters. Unlike the conventional electrical models used in the previous literature, the electrical model presented in this paper can estimate the electrical parameters of PV/T air collector. Further, an analytical expression for the overall energy efficiency of PV/T air collector is derived in terms of thermal, electrical, design and climatic parameters. Numerical simulations have also been carried out. It is observed that there is a good agreement between simulated and experimental results. Further, it is concluded that an overall energy efficiency of PV/T system is significantly increased due to utilization of thermal energy in PV modules.

Solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector, Numerical simulation