Title: Exergy-based sustainability analysis of a dual fluid hybrid photovoltaic and thermal solar collector

Authors: Hasila Jarimi; Devrim Aydin; Mohd Nazari Abu Bakar; Adnan Ibrahim; Ahmad Fazlizan; Ahmad Afif Safwan; Kamaruzzaman Sopian

Addresses: Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM 43600, Malaysia ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eastern Mediterranean University, G. Magosa, TRNC Mersin 10, Turkey ' Faculty of Applied Science, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Cawangan Perlis, 02600, Arau, Malaysia ' Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM 43600, Malaysia ' Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM 43600, Malaysia ' Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM 43600, Malaysia ' Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM 43600, Malaysia

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the exergetic sustainability index (SI) of a dual-fluid PV/T type solar collector that integrates both air and water into the same solar collector. The contribution of the exergy efficiency of each of the dual fluid PV/T collector's components to the overall sustainability of the whole system was analysed. A theoretical approach based on an experimentally validated numerical model was employed. The results show that the SI of the PV component of the dual fluid PV/T system is in general higher than the solar thermal component by approximately 9% since it is higher in quality. When evaluated under three different climatic conditions, the contribution of the thermal component as a cooling medium to the PV is only prominent in hot climates with SI higher by 4% compared to the stand-alone PV system. For the cool and cold temperate climates, the difference is less than 0.1%.

Keywords: exergy; sustainability; dual fluid; hybrid photovoltaic thermal; solar thermal.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2021.115903

International Journal of Exergy, 2021 Vol.35 No.3, pp.358 - 373

Received: 17 Jun 2020
Accepted: 14 Nov 2020
Published online: 05 Jul 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article