Investigation of a Hybrid Solar Heat Pump System

Many studies found that the decrease in photovoltaic (PV) cell temperature by 10°C can improve the efficiency by 0.5-0.7% based on the reference efficiency of 15%. In this paper, the refrigerant R134a was used to cool down the PVs and thus improve the electrical efficiency. A hybrid flat plate PV panel, made of a glass cover – PV module –alluminium sheet – copper tube – insulation – metal sheet sandwich, was coupled with a heat pump system acting as the evaporator. Numerical models were established for the performance study. The results indicated that electrical efficiency dropped by 0.005 and thermal efficiency increased by 0.03 with every 100 W/m2 increase of radiation. The maximum COP could reach 6.6.