Experimental study on a hybrid photovoltaic/heat pump system

Several studies have found that the decrease of photovoltaic (PV) cell temperature would increase the solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency. Different working fluids such as air and water have been used for the cooling of PV modules, but the improvement in energy performance has been found to be small. In this paper, R134a refrigerant was employed to cool the PV modules. With its low evaporating temperature, it was expected to achieve better cooling effect and electrical performance of the PV modules than using air and water working fluids. An experimental rig of a hybrid micro PV panel-based heat pump system was constructed for the performance testing in a laboratory at the University of Nottingham. A small PV panel was made of 6 glass vacuum tube – PV module – aluminium sheet – cooper tube (GPAC) sandwiches connected in series, acting as the evaporator. This was coupled with a small heat pump system. The glass vacuum tubes reduced the heat loss from the PV panel to the ambient, resulting in the improvement of thermal performance. Three testing modes were proposed to investigate the effect of solar radiation, condenser water flow rate and condenser water supply temperature on energy performance. The testing results showed that an averaged COP reached 3.8, 4.3 and 4.0 under the three testing modes with variable radiation, condenser water supply water temperature and water flow rate, respectively, but this could be much higher for a large capacity heat pump system using large PV panels on building roofs. The COP increased with the increasing solar radiation, but decreased with the increasing condenser water supply temperature and water flow rate. The electrical efficiency of PV panel was improved by up to 1.9% based on a reference PV efficiency of 3.9%, compared with that without cooling. The condenser water supply temperature and water flow rate had little effect on the electrical performance.

► R134a refrigerant was used for cooling of PV modules.
► Performance testing on a hybrid photovoltaic/heat pump system was carried out.
► The maximum COP of the hybrid system could reach 6.7.
► The electrical efficiency of PV modules was improved by up to 1.9%.