Field Experiments of PV-Thermal Collectors for Residential Application in Bangkok

Abstract: This study presents experimental results on Photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) solar systems, the commercial photovoltaic (PV) panels used as solar absorbers in PVT collectors, which are amorphous and multi-crystalline silicon. Testing was done with outdoor experiments in the climate of Bangkok corresponding to energy consumption behavior of medium size Thai families. The experimental results show that the thermal recovery of amorphous silicon PVT collector is almost the same as that of multi-crystalline silicon PVT collectors while electricity generation of multi crystalline silicon PVT is 1.2 times as much as that of amorphous silicon PVT. The maximum of heat gain from the PVT systems were obtained in March in summer. It was found that PVT collectors of unit area annually produced 1.1 × 10³ kWh/m² .year of heat and 55–83 kWh/m².year of electricity, respectively. The results show that annual average solar factor of hot water supply is 0.45 for unit collector area. Economical evaluation based on energy costs in Thailand was conducted, which estimated the payback time would be 7 and 14 years for a-Si PVT and mc-Si PV, respectively.