Indoor simulation and testing of photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collectors

An indoor standard test procedure has been developed for thermal and electrical testing of PV/T collectors connected in series. For this, a PV/T solar air heater has been designed, fabricated and its performance over different operating parameters were studied. Based on the energy balance equations, in a steady state condition, a thermal model has been developed. Comparison between experimental and theoretical results were also been carried out. The thermal and electrical efficiency of the solar heater is 42% and 8.4%, respectively. This test procedure can be used by manufacturers for testing of different types of PV modules in order to optimize its products.