Flow and heat transfer inside a PV/T collector for building application

In certain building applications, the PV installation is extended to cover also south- or west-facing walls, taking care to circulate cooling air to the back of the panels. The cooling effect maintains a high conversion efficiency of the PV panels and the heated air may be exploited by the HVAC or service water heating system. Sizing and design of the double façade system is critical to its energetic performance. In this paper, the results from flow visualization and hot wire anemometry measurements performed on the basic structural module of a double-skin photovoltaic (PV/T) façade are discussed. The concept and its feasibility have been presented in a previous paper. The results of transient outdoor measurements with the testing device have been reported elsewhere. The air flow and turbulence field inside the cavity is analyzed in the present paper by means of indoor measurements with the testing device. The results are combined with CFD computations to calculate heat transfer coefficients and improve our understanding and modeling of the specific PV/T concept.

► Experimental results are presented regarding building integrated photovoltaics.
► Indoor flow measurements were carried out with a prototype PV/T collector.
► Focus is on certain mechanisms governing flow and heat transfer inside the cavity.
► The results are interpreted with CFD and enhance understanding of the BIPV concept.
► The results have implications on the design of building integrated PV facades.