Photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector

About: Photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 8688 publications have been published within this topic receiving 232734 citations.

A year-round dynamic simulation of a solar-driven ejector refrigeration system with iso-butane as a refrigerant

Abstract: In this paper, the performance of the solar-driven ejector refrigeration system with iso-butane (R600a) as the refrigerant is studied. The effects that both the operating conditions and the solar collector types have on the system's performance are also examined by dynamic simulation. The TRNSYS and EES simulation tools are used to model and analyze the performance of a solar-driven ejector refrigeration system. The whole system is modelled under the TRNSYS environment, but the model of the ejector refrigeration subsystem is developed in the Engineering Equations Solver (EES) program. A solar fraction of 75% is obtained when using the evacuated tube solar collector. In the very hot environment, the system requires relatively high generator temperature, thus a flat plate solar collector is not economically competitive because the high amount of auxiliary heat needed to boost up the generator temperature. The results from the simulation indicate that an efficient ejector system can only work in a region with decent solar radiation and where a sufficiently low condenser temperature can be kept. The average yearly system thermal ratio (STR) is about 0.22, the COP of the cooling subsystem is about 0.48, and the solar collector efficiency is about 0.47 at Te 15 °C, Tc 5 °C above the ambient temperature, evacuated collector area 50 m2 and hot storage tank volume 2 m3.

Review of solar dryers with latent heat storage systems for agricultural products

Abstract: Drying of agricultural food products is one of the most attractive and cost-effective application of solar energy as it becomes a potentially viable substitute for fuel–wood in much of the developing world. The intermittent nature of the solar energy, which is the main source of energy in solar drying, is indeed one of the major shortcomings of the solar drying system can be alleviated by storing excess energy during the peak time and use it in off sun hours or when the energy availability is inadequate. Developing efficient and inexpensive energy storage devices in solar dryers is as important as developing new sources of energy and reduce the time between energy supply and energy demand, thereby playing a vital role in energy conservation. It improves the energy systems by smoothening the output and thus increasing the reliability. Therefore, in this paper, an attempt has been taken to summarize the investigation of the solar drying system incorporating with phase change materials (PCMs) for drying agricultural food products.