Performance evaluation of a semi-transparent cells filtered concentrated photovoltaic/thermal system

Abstract

Spectral beam splitting technology is demonstrated an efficient approach to enhance the performance of a concentrated photovoltaic/thermal system. However, the introduction of interference thin film-based or liquid-based filter in photovoltaic/thermal system leads to a decrease in PV efficiency due to the useful light losses caused by the splitter for PV cells. This paper develops a semi-transparent perovskite cells filtered concentrated photovoltaic/thermal system integrated with a triangular receiver under Fresnel concentrator. For the first time, the idea of combining semi-transparent cell filter and triangular cooling duct for a spectral beam splitting concentrated photovoltaic/thermal system is examined, enhancing performance of the existing flat-plate based systems. A complete optical-thermal coupling model for the proposed system is established to predict its overall performance under different operation parameters. The results confirm that the exergy efficiency of the developed system is slightly higher than that of the flat-plate one by an average of 0.6%. It is found that the semi-transparent perovskite cells are good at spectrally splitting the solar spectrum. Furthermore, for air or silicone oil as the coolant in the triangular cooling duct, the results reveal that mass flow rate of the coolant positively impacts the cooling channel thermal efficiency, electrical efficiency and total energy efficiency, but negatively affects the nanofluid thermal channel efficiency and total exergy efficiency. The highest total energy efficiency and exergy efficiency for silicone cooling are 82.3% and 17.6%, respectively. The current study offers an alternative solution to improve the performance of the spectral beam splitting concentrated/photovoltaic thermal system, which can lead to the development of more efficient and sustainable solar energy systems.