A solvable thermal circuit for modelling PVT air collectors

The steady state thermal analysis of a photovoltaic thermal (PVT) air collector typically involves solving energy balance equations to determine temperatures as a function of distance along the collector and to calculate the thermal energy output. While this approach is appropriate for a simple PVT air collector model, for more detailed models the resulting energy balance equations increase significantly in complexity. In this paper it is demonstrated how an RC circuit can be used to model a PVT air collector under steady state conditions to determine the thermal parameters of the collector. This is achieved by utilising a capacitor in the circuit, which acts as an analog integrator. Simulation of the circuit is used to illustrate the equivalence of this approach with conventional steady state models. The advantage of using a solvable circuit is that models of PVT air collectors of increasing complexity can be quickly and easily analysed by simply adding additional components to the circuit.