Experimental Study on the Energy Performance of PV-HP Water Heating System

Many studies have found that the decrease of photovoltaic (PV) cell temperature would increase the solar-toelectricity conversion efficiency. This paper provided a study on the thermal and electrical performance of PV panel with active cooling by attaching heat pipes beneath the PV panel, building up a PV-heat pipe (HP) combined system. The effect of solar radiation, inlet water temperature and water flow on the electrical and thermal efficiencies of the system were studied. The results showed that the thermal efficiency of the heat pipe PV/thermal (PV/T) solar water heating system decreased with the increasing inlet water temperature and water flow, and increased with the increasing solar radiation; the electrical efficiency decreased with increasing solar radiation, inlet water temperature and water flow. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.