A two dimensional thermal network model for a photovoltaic solar wall

A two dimensional thermal network model is proposed to predict the temperature distribution for a section of photovoltaic solar wall installed in an outdoor room laboratory in Concordia University, Montréal, Canada. The photovoltaic solar wall is constructed with a pair of glass coated photovoltaic modules and a polystyrene filled plywood board as back panel. The active solar ventilation through a photovoltaic solar wall is achieved with an exhaust fan fixed in the outdoor room laboratory. The steady state thermal network nodal equations are developed for conjugate heat exchange and heat transport for a section of a photovoltaic solar wall. The matrix solution procedure is adopted for formulation of conductance and heat source matrices for obtaining numerical solution of one dimensional heat conduction and heat transport equations by performing two dimensional thermal network analyses. The temperature distribution is predicted by the model with measurement data obtained from the section of a photovoltaic solar wall. The effect of conduction heat flow and multi-node radiation heat exchange between composite surfaces is useful for predicting a ventilation rate through a solar ventilation system.