Experimental investigation of a two-inlet air-based building integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) system

Highlights: • BIPV/T system thermal efficiency is 5% higher using two inlets compared to one. • BIPV/T thermal efficiency is 7.6% higher using semi-transparent than opaque PV. • Detailed air temperature profile in BIPV/T channel is obtained. • Nusselt number correlations are developed. - Abstract: An experimental study of thermal characteristics of a novel two-inlet air-based open-loop building integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) system using a full-scale solar simulator is presented. Experimental prototypes of one-inlet and two-inlet BIPV/T systems were constructed for conducting comparative experiments. Variations of BIPV/T systems are also investigated including systems employing opaque mono-crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) panels and systems employing semi-transparent mono-crystalline PV panels. Experimental results demonstrate that an equivalent two-inlet system with frameless PV panels can increase the thermal efficiency by 5% compared to a conventional one-inlet system, and that the BIPV/T system with semi-transparent PV panels achieves 7.6% higher thermal efficiency due to the absorption of some solar radiation at the bottom surface in the BIPV/T system cavity. Also, the two-inlet BIPV/T design is easily implemented and does not add significant cost. Detailed air temperature measurements reveal that the mixing of the warm outlet air from the first section and the cool ambient air drawn in from the second inlet contributes to the improved performance of the two-inlet system. Based on a thermal network model of the BIPV/T system and experimental data, correlations are developed for the convective heat transfer coefficients in the two sections. These are necessary for further analysis and development of BIPV/T system with multiple inlets.