Study of PV-Trombe wall assisted with DC fan

A novel PV-Trombe wall (PV-TW) assisted with DC fan is presented in this paper. Based on the original PV-TW model, theoretical simulations have been conducted for PV-TW with and without assisted DC fan. At the same time, field tests for these two cases have been performed to validate the model, and then the simulated and experimental results are found in considerably good agreement after their comparisons. A significant temperature increase of indoor temperature with a maximum of 14.42 °C, if compared with the reference room, can be obtained by the PV-TW assisted with a relatively small DC fan by testing. Meanwhile, the experimental average electrical efficiency of the PV-TW assisted with DC fan can reach 10–11%, due to the glass cover. Furthermore, the testing results for PV-TW assisted with DC fan show that the average (during 7:00–17:00) temperature of PV cells reduces by 1.28 °C and the average indoor temperature increases by 0.50 °C, if compared with the original PV-TW with similar solar radiation, and more than one degree lower ambient temperature. It indicates that the assisted DC fan can help improving the indoor temperature and cooling the PV cells in some measure. The potential of PV-TW can be exerted by the assisted DC fan.