Enhancing the Performance of Photovoltaic Thermal Solar Collectors using Twisted Absorber Tubes and Nanofluids with Optimal Design Parameters

A Photovoltaic-Thermal-Solar-Collector (PVT) is a technology that combines the benefits of photovoltaic panels (PV) and solar-thermal-collectors. It can enhance the efficiency of PV by reducing its surface temperature while producing hot water. The PVT's photovoltaic, thermal, and combined-photovoltaic-thermal efficiencies with parallel twisted absorber tubes and nanofluids as working fluids have been determined. A total of 11 parallel twisted absorber riser tubes with headers were used. The optimum header tube diameter was 51mm using Computational-Fluid-Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The utilization of twisted tubes significantly improved the photovoltaic, thermal, and combined-photovoltaic-thermal efficiencies, with the combined-photovoltaic-thermal efficiency rising from 61.2% to 84.6% at a mass-flow-rate of 0.04kg/s and solar-irradiance-level of 800W/m 2 . The effect of employing nanofluids on the PVT system was investigated, with nanofluids contributing to even greater gains in combined photovoltaic-thermal efficiency, which increased from 84.6% to 88.2%. These findings provide valuable insights into the design of high-performance fluid-based PVT systems, highlighting the potential of twisted tubes and nanofluids for enhancing system efficiency.