PV COMBI SYSTEMS AND SPECIAL DESIGNS FOR BUILDINGS

YIANNIS TRIPANAGNOSTOPOULOS
Physics Department
University of Patras
Physics Department, University of Patras, Patra 26500
GREECE
Tel/Fax: +31 2610 997472 e-mail: yiantrip@physics.upatras.gr

1. INTRODUCTION
Various solar energy systems with optimized energy output, cost and aesthetic integration,
have to be applied in buildings and contribute in the energy supply combined with
environmental protection. Undoubtedly, the most important issue related with energy and
buildings is bioclimatic architecture which plays an important role in obtaining the
optimized physical lighting and the biggest possible limitation of heating needs in the
winter and cooling needs in the summer. The energetically passive function of the building
must be combined with the study of energy systems installation, systems that can cover
hot water and electricity needs and contribute to the other energy needs of the building. As
far as new buildings are concerned, their design must provide them with the possibility of
passive and active energy systems combination, for the avoidance of augmented cost and
wrong integration of the systems in buildings architecture.
Solar energy systems appear to be the most interesting among renewable energy sources
(RES) for the built environment. The facades and the horizontal or inclined roofs of
buildings are appropriate surfaces for the application of solar thermal collectors and
photovoltaic panels for heat and electricity production respectively. Solar thermal
collectors can be considered practical devices to cover thermal energy needs in DHW,
space heating and cooling, etc. Although they can cover satisfactorily the thermal load of
several buildings in countries with favorable weather conditions, they are not widely
applied. Despite of the achieved system cost improvements, the cost payback time of the
solar thermal collectors is not sufficiently low, considering that these systems have low or
no subsidies. Combi-solar thermal systems have been suggested to maximize the use of
thermal output, providing thermal energy for space heating during winter, space cooling
during summer and hot water for domestic use all year round. New types of solar energy
devices that were developed in Solar Energy Laboratory at University of Patras can lead to
improved solar collectors towards to a greater application of solar energy systems.

2. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Solar Energy Systems can be applied in a very harmonic way on buildings for covering the
needs of heating, cooling, electricity and lighting. The facades and the horizontal or
inclined roofs of houses, hotels, athletic centers and buildings of other various types
constitute appropriate surfaces for an expanded use of photovoltaic panels and thermal
solar collectors. Every type of building can be designed according to the principles of
bioclimatic architecture for the minimization of the energy needs and the environmental
impact of the building. Apart from design, its equally important to use new heat-insulating
materials and special glasses, that reduce effectively thermal losses of buildings during the
winter and the energy consumption for cooling during the summer and that are already
considered as necessary structural materials for the improvement of energy behavior of
buildings, giving at the same time a new visage to them. In such an aspect, the prospective
energy savings in the buildings sector (especially in new buildings) can be more than 50%
of the energy consumption of standard buildings and become a regular procedure for built
environment construction. The installation of devices and active solar energy units is
related with their cost increase and their harmonization with buildings architecture and the
environment. In the Physics Department of University of Patras, some new types of solar
energy systems with efficient energy output were developed, which are referred to thermal
collectors and hybrid photovoltaic/thermal systems. In both systems we used booster
reflectors to increase the energy output from them.
3.

BOOSTER REFLECTORS

Buildings that are placed in low latitude locations usually have horizontal roofs where the
installation of units of solar energy utilization, like solar collectors and photovoltaic
panels, is easy. The installation of solar devices on the rooftops of buildings differs from
the installation on the inclined roofs or the facades of buildings because, even if we can
succeed better energy orientation (south), the sun height difference between seasons
determines their placement in a certain distance to avoid shading. These booster reflectors
can contribute to the increase of the thermal energy output, considering a specific
temperature level of collector operation or to increase the temperature level for the
efficient collector operation. This improvement is correlated to the additionally absorbed
solar radiation, substituting partially the thermal losses of the collectors. These
installations can be effectively applied to residential multiflat buildings, office buildings,
hotels, hospitals, athletic centers and industrial buildings. The additional solar input to the
collector aperture surfaces from spring to fall makes the suggested installation suitable for
effective collector operation in higher temperatures, adapting therefore the temperature
level for the cooling requirements. The shading of a series of solar devices reduces the
output of solar thermal collectors but mainly, the output of photovoltaic panels. On
2

horizontal roofs, PV have both of their surfaces exposed to the environment, while PV
placed on inclined roofs or facades have only one since their back surface is covered. The
positive result of parallel series of PV is their conservation in a relatively low temperature
that leads to a better electrical output.
Literature for booster reflectors
The combination of flat reflectors to flat plate collectors has been introduced by Shuman
in 1911 [1] to improve the operating temperature of the system. The next work came half a
century later by Tabor in 1966 [2], who studied the use of booster reflectors placed at
collector eastern and western side. Ten years later McDaniels et al. [3] and Seitel [4]
presented calculations for the increase of solar radiation on the aperture of solar collectors
due to booster reflectors, while Bannerot and Howell [5] gave results for grooved
collectors and Grassie and Sheridan [6] published simulation results for performance
improvement by using booster reflectors.
In the next years, Grimmer et al [7], Baker et al [8] and Mannan and Bannerot [9] studied
several parameters on the booster reflector concept. Following them, Rudloff et al [10]
calculated the performance increase of booster reflectors and showed that it corresponds to
the additional cost from the reflectors and Larson [11,12] presented results for the effect of
reflector slope to the achieved concentration. In the same period Taha and Eldighidy [13]
studied the effect of the optimized orientation of solar collectors and the contribution of
the reflectors. In the following years Chiam [14,15] studied the effect of reflectors on the
horizontal collector sides and Jones [16] on the reflectors between parallel rows of solar
collectors. Garg and Hrishikesan [17] presented analytical formulas for the prediction of
reflected solar radiation at three locations and Faiman with Zemel [18] combined flat
reflector with a flat plate thermosiphonic device.
The same period, the experiments of Perers et al [19] and Brunstrom with Karlsson [20]
showed that booster reflectors increase the annual thermal output by 30% (for system
operation at about 50C). In addition, Perers and Karlsson [21] studied 2D and 3D
collector-reflector geometries and their results confirmed that the use of reflectors results
again to a 30% annual performance increase. Narashima Rao et al [22] presented
algorithm for the calculation of the additional solar radiation on collector aperture area.
Perers et al [23] gave again theoretical and experimental results for the effective use of
several reflectors. Kumar et al [24] provided results for systems with reflectors mounted
on all sides of flat collectors, while Ballentin and Wilk [25] for the lower horizontal
collector side. Recently, Ronnelid and Karlsson [26] calculated the additional solar
radiation from V-corrugated reflectors, improving the system performance by 10% and
Hussein et al [27] presented similar results regarding several design parameters.
3

Experiments with booster reflectors

In our laboratory we have studied the effect of booster reflectors to solar collectors,
starting with the combination of flat reflectors with flat plate thermosiphonic systems [28]
and later to flat plate collectors with black and colored absorbers [29]. Aiming to
determine the effect of stationary reflectors to flat plate collectors, we tested one collector
unit operating at maximum thermal output (ambient temperature level) and a second unit
at stagnation (no fluid flow). We used also two other systems of similar collectors, which
were combined with flat stationary reflectors [30].

Fig. 1

Cross section of the installation of the collectors with the stationary booster
reflector.

The positive effect of flat reflectors of increasing the thermal output was experimentally
determined by using four flat plate collectors properly installed in order to get comparative
results. Two collectors were combined with a stationary flat reflector in front of them to
get additional solar radiation by reflection. The other two of them were of same type and
were operating as reference collectors. The stationary collector-reflector system was tested
daily during the year in low water input temperature and also in stagnation operation. The
results showed that the increase of thermal output is satisfactory from spring to fall in low
temperatures operation and can be significant for operation in high temperatures. The
results show that the booster reflectors can increase the thermal output of solar collectors,
which is low during winter due to the low sun altitude, but sufficiently high the rest
seasons. The cost of the booster reflectors is overcome by the additional amount of the
thermal energy output, resulting therefore to a reduction of the system payback time and
making these systems more attractive for application.
We installed two rows of flat plate collectors on the roof of Physics Department building,
(facing South and the one row behind the other), with the first row of collectors without
and the second row with booster reflector. In Fig.1 we show the cross section of the
installation, presenting the geometry, the incoming and the reflecting solar rays, the slope
of the collector, and of the reflector and the angle between collector and reflector. In
addition, we include the collector width L, the reflector width R and the distance D
4

between the parallel collector rows. The collectors have high emissivity absorber (black
paint, =0.95 and =0.9), one glass cover and thermal insulation. Thermocouples were
placed at several positions (water input and output, four positions on the absorber). We
used a typical glass mirror as flat reflector and during the experimental tests we circulated
cold water in the two collectors, leaving the other two to operate without water flow. Thus,
we achieved the collector operation at low temperature and also at stagnation condition.
We selected collector slope =38.25, equal to the latitude of Patras and reflector slope
=28.3, equal to the maximum sun altitude for Summer solstice at Patras. The collector
width was L=0.6 m, the reflector width R=0.78 m, the angle between the collector and
reflector =113.45 and the distance between the two collectors D=1.16 m.
We measured water input temperature i (C), water output temperature o (C), ambient
temperature a (C), absorber temperatures S1, S2, S3, S4 (in oC, from the bottom to the
top), solar radiation G (Wm-2), wind speed Vw (ms-1) and mass flow rate m . The four
temperatures of the absorber surface of each collector at absence of water flow were used
to determine the stagnation temperature of the collectors. For the collected data we
calculated the mean daily efficiency d as function of the ratio Tm / Gm ( Tm = Ti , m T , m and Ti , m , T , m , Gm , mean daily values). The mean daily performance was
calculated by the relation d Qd / Qs , with Qd the daily thermal output of the collector and
Qs the daily incoming solar radiation on the collector aperture. For the calculation of d
the reflected radiation was not considered in the calculation of Qs , aiming to make clearer
the effect of the booster reflector to the system performance. For the stagnation operation
we have d =0 and the calculation of Tm / Gm is based on the formula Tm TS ,m Ta ,m
with TS ,m TS1,m TS 2 ,m TS 3,m TS 4 ,m / 4 . The pairs of d and Tm / Gm were used to define
the linear correlation of the collector daily performance.
In Fig.2 we present the diagrams [30] of the mean daily performance of the tested flat
collectors for the winter (14 Dec), Spring (16 Mar), Summer (14 Jul) and Fall (18 Oct).
These results contribute to a maximum ( Tm / Gm = 0 KW-1m2) increase of 24% for Spring,
38% for Summer, 31% for Fall and 11% for Winter, resulting to a 25% mean annual value.
For operation in higher temperatures ( Ti >40C) the improvement is significant,
confirming the results of other authors [19-21]. For operation at Tm / Gm 0.05 KW-1,
which could correspond to Ti =50C, T =25 C and Gm =500 Wm-2 1 (dotted lines in
Fig.2) the performance increase is much more higher, being above 30% for winter, 80%
for Spring, 50% for Summer and 75% for Fall (60% as mean annual increase). These
results show the positive effect of booster reflectors and considering an additional cost of
about 20% for the reflectors, we have a net performance gain of 40%.

WINTER

SPRING
1.1

FLAT

Mean Daily Performance n d

Mean Daily Performance n d

1.1

FLAT + REF.

0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

-0.02

FLAT

FLAT + REF.

0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

-0.02

0.02

-1

0.08

0.1

AUTUMN
1.1

FLAT

Mean Daily Performance n d

Mean Daily Performance n d

0.06

m / G m ( CW m )

SUMMER
1.1

FLAT + REF.

0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

-0.02

0.04

-1

m / G m ( CW m )

FLAT

FLAT + REF.

0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

0.02

0.04

0.06

-1

0.08

0.1

-0.02

m / G m ( CW m )

0.02

0.04

0.06

-1

0.08

0.1

m / G m ( CW m )

Fig.2 Experimental results of mean daily efficiency of the studied systems (FLAT and
FLAT+REF) for the four seasons [30].
The results show that the combination of flat plate collectors with booster reflectors is
satisfactory regarding thermal output, increasing by ~25% the annual yield for system
operation at ambient temperature level and doubling it (~50%) for operation at about 50
o
C. This performance is due to the fact that the increase of solar input on collector aperture
provides an additional energy amount that can replace the thermal losses from the
collector to the ambient, mainly when the system is operating at higher temperatures.
Considering the stationary collector-reflector installation, the contribution of booster
reflector is low during winter because of the low sun altitude, but it is high during the rest
seasons.
We estimate that the addition of booster reflectors to solar collector installations increase
system cost by about 20%, in case of typical collectors, which is relatively lower if
improved performance collectors (selective absorber, double glazing, TIM thermal
protection, vacuum tubes, CPC type collectors, etc) are considered. This additional cost is
6

not high and can be overcome by the increase of thermal output for system operation
higher than 10 oC above ambient. The performance improvement is significant enough for
higher operating temperature of the collector, as for 50 oC or higher, contributing therefore
to become more attractive and cost effective for several solar energy applications (space
heating and cooling, desalination, industrial heat, etc). Finally, the application of booster
reflectors can be considered interesting for the buildings with horizontal roof, mainly in
southern countries, as the residential multiflat buildings, hotels, hospitals, athletic centers,
industries, etc.
References for booster reflectors
[1] Meinel .. and Meinel M.P. Applied Solar Energy. AddisonWesley Publ. Co
(1997).
[2] Tabor H. Mirror boosters for solar collectors. Solar Energy 10, pp. 111-118 (1966).
[3] McDaniels D.K., Lowndes D.H., Mathew H., Reynolds J. and Grey R. Enhanced
solar energy collection using reflector-solar thermal collector combinations. Solar
Energy 17, pp. 277-283 (1975).
[4] Seitel S. Collector performance enhancement with flat reflectors. Solar Energy 17,
pp. 291-295 (1975).
[5] Bannerot R.B. and Howell J.R. Moderately concentrating flat plate solar energy
collectors. ASME 75, pp. 2-11 (1975).
[6] Grassie S.L. and Sheridan N.R. The use of planar reflectors for increasing the energy
yield of flat plate collectors. Solar Energy 19, pp. 663-668 (1977).
[7] Grimmer D.P., Zinn K.G., Herr K.C. and Wood B.E. Augmented solar energy
collection using different types of planar reflective surfaces. Solar Energy 31, pp.
497-501 (1978).
[8] Baker S. McDaniels D.K., Kaehn H.D. and Lowndes D.H. Time integrated
calculation of the insolation collected by reflector-collector system. Solar Energy 20,
pp. 415-417 (1978
[9] Mannan K.D and Bannerot R.B Optimal geometries for one and two faced symmetric
side wall booster mirrors. Solar Energy 21, pp. 385-391 (1978).
[10] Rudloff F.A., Swanson S.R., Boehm R.F. Computer simulation results for planar
reflectors and flat plate solar collectors. ASME 79 WA/Sol - 37, pp. 1-8 (1979).
[11] Larson D.C. Concentration ratios for flat plate solar collectors with adjustable flat
mirrors. Energy 4, pp. 170-175 (1980).
[12] Larson D.C. Optimization of flat plate collector-flat mirror systems. Solar Energy 24,
pp. 203-207 (1980).
[13] Taha I.S. and Eldighidy S.M. Effect of off-south orientation on optimum conditions
for maximum solar energy absorbed by flat plate collector augmented by plane
reflector. Solar Energy 25, pp. 373-379 (1980).
7

[14] Chiam H.F. Planar concentrators for flat plate collectors. Solar Energy 26, pp. 503509 (1981).
[15] Chiam H.F. Stationary reflector-augmented flat plate collectors. Solar Energy 29, pp.
65-69 (1982).
[16] Jones JR R.E. Radiation on reflector augmented flat plate collectors. Solar Energy 23,
pp. 527-531 (1984).
[17] Garg H.P. and Hrishikesan D.S. Enhancement of solar energy on flat plate collector
by plane booster mirrors. Solar Energy 40, pp. 295-307 (1988).
[18] Faiman D. and Zemel A. Low profile solar water heaters: the mirror booster problem
revisited. Solar Energy 40, pp. 385-390 (1988).
[19] Perers B., Halletun H., Karlsson B. and Brunstrom C. Field testing of high
performance flat plate collectors with external reflectors. Proc. Int. Conference
NORTHSUN 88, pp. 445-450 (1988).
[20] Brunstrom C. and Karlsson B. External reflectors for large area flat plate collectors.
Proc. Int. Conf. NORTHSUN 88, pp. 363-367 (1988).
[21] Perers B., Karlsson B. External reflectors for large solar collector arrays, simulation
model and experimental results. Solar Energy 51, pp. 327-337 (1993).
[22] Narashima Rao A.V., Chalam R.V., Subramanyam S. and Sithararama Rao T.L.
Energy contribution by booster mirrors. Energy Convers. Mgmnt 34, pp. 309-326
(1993).
[23] Perers B., Karlsson B.and Bergkvist M. Intensity distribution in the collector plane
from structured booster reflectors with rolling grooves and corrugations. Solar
Energy 53, pp 215-226 (1994).
[24] Kumar R., Kaushik S.C. and Garg H.P. Analytical study of collector solar gain
enhancement by multiple reflections. Energy 20, pp 511-522 (1995).
[25] Bollentin J.W. and Wilk R.D. Modeling the solar irradiation on flat plate collectors
augmented with planar reflectors. Solar Energy 55, pp 343-354 (1995).
[26] Ronnelid M. and Karlsson B. The use of corrugated booster reflectors for solar
collector fields. Solar Energy 65, pp 343-351 (1999).
[27] Hussein H.M.S., Ahmad G.E., Mohamad M.A. Optimization of operational and
design parameters of plane reflector tilted flat plate solar collector systems. Energy
25, pp 529-542 (2000).
[28] Tripanagnostopoulos Y. and Yianoulis P. Solar water heaters with booster mirrors.
Proc. Int. Conference WREC III, pp. 1908-1910 (1994).
[29] Tripanagnostopoulos Y., Souliotis M. and Nousia Th. Solar collectors with colored
absorbers. Solar Energy 68, pp. 343-356, (2000).
[30] Tripanagnostopoulos Y. and Souliotis M. Booster reflector contribution to
performance improvement of solar collectors. Proc (CD-ROM) WREC2005 ,
Aberdeen 22-27 May (2005).

SOLAR COLLECTORS WITH COLORED ABSORBERS

The issue of aesthetic integration of solar collectors in building architecture and the
environment is important and constitutes a reason for the limited application of these
devices in the built environment. In an extended use of solar energy, the majority of the
exterior surfaces of buildings will be covered with absorbing surfaces of solar collectors
and their color (the monotony of black color) is a basic factor that has to be taken under
consideration, especially in the case of traditional communities. As an alternative solution
and instead of black color, collectors with different colors have been proposed (blue, redbrown, green etc) and although their absorption ability is a little lower (20%), their use
offers an interesting colorful aspect to the exterior of buildings (Tripanagnostopoulos et al,
2000, Kalogirou et al, 2005) Colored solar absorbers can contribute in the expansion of
solar energy systems utilization and sensitize or even motivate architectures to include
these systems in their designs. Although the developed in our laboratory solar collectors
with colored absorber are obviously of lower efficiency than the collectors with black
absorbers, they could be considered suitable for aesthetically sensitive applications,
providing interesting solutions to the architects to overcome the monotony of black
collectors.
Study of colored collectors
Flat plate collectors with black, blue and red-brown absorber were constructed and tested
in our laboratory and theoretical results regarding colored collectors with absorbers of
variable absorptivity and emissivity showed the effective use of booster reflectors to the
increase of thermal efficiency. In the second work, additionally to the collectors of typical
form, unglazed collectors with colored absorber were also studied giving interesting
results. Flat plate unglazed colored collectors are cheaper than typical glazed collectors,
but the increased absorber thermal losses limit their effective use in low temperature
applications, as water preheating for domestic or industrial use, water heating of
swimming pools, space heating, etc.
In Fig. 3 the yearly efficiency of typical form flat plate solar collectors using glazing and
thermal insulation (GL/INSUL) and of flat plate unglazed solar collectors with back
thermal insulation (UNGL/INSUL) are presented. These results are calculated for coloured
collectors with construction same to that of the experimental models of flat collectors that
were tested in our laboratory, regarding collector inclination = 40 and operation in
Patras (latitude 38N). The yearly efficiencies are given for collectors with absorbers of
absorptivity = 0.95, = 0.85 and = 0.75 and being all of emissivity = 0.9, as
function of the water input temperature Ti .

The comparison of the yearly efficiency of typical form collectors (GL/INSUL) shows that
for a usual input temperature, as it is Ti = 40C, the colored collectors with =0.85 (dark
colored absorbers) and =0.75 (light colored absorbers) have a 20% and 40% lower
yearly efficiency, respectively to that of the collector with black absorber ( =0.95).

Fig. 3 Yearly efficiency of colored glazed and unglazed solar collectors

For the unglazed type collectors (UNGL/INSUL) and for a temperature 20C Ti 30C
the colored collectors have about 15% (dark color = 0.85) and 25% (light color, =
0.75) lower yearly efficiency compared to that of the unglazed black collector ( = 0.95).
In addition, for low values of Ti the unglazed collectors have a higher yearly efficiency
compared to glazed collectors of the same value of .
In Fig.4 the calculated monthly efficiencies of the above collector types, for inclination
= 40 and operation in Patras considering input water temperature Ti = 20C, are
presented. From these results we can see that the unglazed collectors are of higher
efficiency than typical form collectors during the period from April to October, due to the
lower optical losses from the absence of glazing and the positive convention effect from
the ambient air to the absorber surface. Considering the effect of using colored absorbers
instead of black absorber, dark tone absorber ( = 0.85) gives satisfactory results in both
glazed (GL/INSUL) and unglazed (UNGL/INSUL) solar collectors, for all months.

10

Fig. 4 Monthly efficiency of colored glazed and unglazed solar collectors

Regarding cost, we estimate that for applications with priority in aesthetic view, colored
collectors could be more interesting and an additional cost of about 20% (to increase the
collector area) can overcome their lower thermal output compared to same type collectors
with black absorber. The use of blue collectors in white buildings close to the sea, of red
brown collectors for buildings with inclined roof and traditional architecture and of other
colored collectors (green, yellow, violet, mixed colors, etc) on modern buildings could
change the view of them, resulting to a wider use of solar thermal collectors.
Regarding optical annoyance from reflected light, the use of glass coatings that diffuse
reflected light is the most appropriate solution, while we can consider worthy the use of
uncovered (UNGLAZED) collectors for low temperature applications (swimming pools,
preheating of water, etc). In this perspective, uncovered collectors can be combined with
colored surface for an even more interesting integration of solar collectors in facades and
inclined roofs of buildings. In the horizontal roof applications, it is effective to use flat
booster reflectors between the rows of collectors with colored absorbers and increase the
thermal output of them (Tripanagnostopoulos et al, 2000,).
References for colored collectors
Tripanagnostopoulos Y., Souliotis M. and Nousia Th. Solar collectors with colored
absorbers. Solar Energy 68, pp. 343-356, (2000).
Kalogirou S, Tripanagnostopoulos Y., Souliotis M. Performance of solar systems
employing collectors with colored absorber. Energy and Building 37, 824-835, (2005).

11

HYBRID PHOTOVOLTAIC/THERMAL SOLAR SYSTEMS

Photovoltaic (PV) convert a small percentage of solar radiation into electricity, 5%-15%
depending on the type of PV, with the greater percentage converted into heat. The solar
radiation increases the temperature of PV modules, resulting in a drop of their electrical
efficiency, but their installation on horizontal roofs of buildings permits their natural
cooling. In the facades and inclined roofs, cooling of PV rear surface is under research,
which will also have positive result in protecting building overheating during summer.
The temperature of PV modules increases by the absorbed solar radiation that is not
converted into electricity causing a decrease in their efficiency. This undesirable effect can
be partially avoided by heat extraction with a fluid circulation. In hybrid PV/T solar
systems the reduction of PV module temperature can be combined with a useful fluid
heating. Hybrid PV/T systems can provide electrical and thermal energy, thus achieving a
higher energy conversion rate of the absorbed solar radiation. They consist of PV modules
coupled to heat extraction devices, in which air or water of lower temperature than that of
PV modules is heated whilst at the same time the PV module temperature is reduced.
In PV/T system applications the production of electricity is the main priority, therefore it is
necessary to operate the PV modules at low temperature in order to keep PV cell electrical
efficiency at a sufficient level. This requirement limits the effective operation range of the
PV/T thermal unit for low temperatures, thus, the extracted heat can be used mainly for
low temperature applications such as space heating and natural ventilation of buildings,
and air or water preheating. Air-cooled PV/T systems have been recently applied in
buildings, integrated usually on their inclined roofs or faades. By these systems building
space heating needs during winter can be covered and also building overheating during
summer is avoided. Water-cooled PV/T systems are practical systems for water heating,
but they are not yet improved enough for widely commercial applications.
Natural or forced air circulation is a simple and low cost method to remove heat from PV
modules, but it is less effective at low latitudes where ambient air temperature is over 20 oC
for many months during the year. In BIPV applications, unless special precautions are
taken, the increase of PV module temperature can result to the reduction of PV efficiency
and to the increase of undesirable heat transfer to the building, mainly during summer. In
air cooled hybrid PV/T systems an air channel is usually mounted at the back of the PV
modules. Air of lower temperature than that of PV modules, usually ambient air, is
circulating in the channel and thus both PV cooling and thermal energy collection can be
achieved. Therefore, by air cooling the PV electrical efficiency is kept at a sufficient level
and the thermal energy collected can be used for the building thermal needs.

12

Regarding water heat extraction, the water can circulate through pipes in contact with a
flat sheet, placed in thermal contact with the PV module rear surface. In PV/T systems the
thermal unit for air or water heat extraction, the necessary fan or pump and the external
ducts or pipes for fluid circulation constitute the complete system. To increase the system
operating temperature, an additional glazing is used, but this results in a decrease of the
PV module electrical output because an amount of solar radiation is reflected away,
depending on the angle of incidence.
Hybrid PV/T systems can be applied mainly in buildings for the production of electricity
and heat and are suitable for PV applications under high values of solar radiation and
ambient temperature. In these devices, water or air is circulated in thermal contact with the
PV, exchanging heat (Fig. 5). When air is used, the contact with PV panels is direct, while
in the case of use of fluids, the contact is made through a heat exchanger. These devices
are not yet applied in an international scale and their applications until now are mostly for
demonstration reasons and mainly have to do with air hybrid PV/T on the facades of
buildings.

Fig. 5 Cross section of the basic PV/T experimental models for water and air heating,
without and with extra transparent cover. a. PV/WATER type,
b. PV/WATER + GL type, c. PV/AIR type, d. PV/AIR + GL type
To the direction of developing hybrid PV/T systems, experimental models have been
constructed, using water or air as the heat removal fluid (Tripanagnostopoulos et al, 2000,
2001a, 2001b, 2002a, 2002b). Hybrid PV/T using air can be applied in our country for
space heating of building during winter and for cooling during summer by the creation of
strong upward air stream. Water hybrid PV/T can be used in our country during the whole
year, for the pre-heating of water, since the temperature of water in the water supply
network is up to 20 C, even during summer months.

13

Hybrid PV/T systems are appropriate for installation in buildings with thermal and
electricity needs, like houses, apartment buildings, hotels, hospitals, athletic centers and
industries. They can be placed on the facades, inclined or horizontal roofs of buildings instead of separate PV panels and solar thermal collectors - in a more practical utilization
of the existing surfaces.
Literature for PV/T systems
Theoretical and experimental studies are referred to hybrid PV/T systems with air or/and
water heat extraction from the PV modules. Kern and Russell (1978) present the design
and performance of water and air cooled PV/T systems, while Hendrie (1979) and
Florschuetz (1979) include PV/T modeling in their works. Numerical methods predicting
PV/T system performance are developed by Raghuraman (1981), computer simulations
are studied by Cox and Raghuraman (1985), a low cost PV/T system with transparent type
a-Si cells is proposed by Lalovic et al (1986-87) and results from an applied air type PV/T
system are given by Loferski et al (1988). Next years, Bhargava et al (1991), Prakash
(1994), Garg and Agarwal (1995) present same aspects of a water type PV/T system and
Sopian et al (1996) and Garg and Adhikari (1997) present a plenty of results regarding the
effect of design and operation parameters on the performance of air type PV/T systems.
Because of their easier construction and operation, hybrid PV/T systems with air heat
extraction are more extensively studied, mainly as an alternative and cost effective
solution to building integrated PV systems (BIPV). Following the above referred studies,
test results from PV/T systems with improved air heat extraction are given by Ricaud and
Roubeau (1994) and from roof integrated air-cooled PV modules by Yang et al (1994).
Regarding building integrated PV/T systems Posnansky et al (1994), Ossenbrink et al
(1994) and Moshfegh et al (1995) include in their works considerations and results on
these systems. Later, Brinkworth et al (1997), Moshfegh and Sandberg (1998), Schroer et
al (1998), Brinkworth (2000), and also Brinkworth et al (2000) present design and
performance studies regarding air type building integrated hybrid PV/T systems. We also
could refer the work of Eicker et al (2000) who give monitoring results from a BIPV PV/T
system that operates during winter for space heating and during summer for active cooling
and of Bazilian et al (2001a), who evaluate the practical use of several PV/T systems with
air heat extraction in the built environment. The building integrated photovoltaics is going
to be a sector of a wider PV module application and the works of Hegazy (1999), Lee et al
(2001), Bazilian et al (2001b), Chow (2003) and Ito with Miura (2003) give interesting
modeling results on air cooled PV modules.
Water heat extraction is more expensive than air, but as water from mains remains usually
under 20C in low latitude countries, which have high air temperatures during summer, the
14

water heating can be used during all seasons. The liquid type hybrid PV/T systems are less
studied than air type systems and the works that follow the first period of PV/T system
development are the study of Bergene and Lovvik (1995) who give a detailed analysis on
liquid type PV/T systems, of Hausler and Rogash (2000) with the study of a latent heat
storage PV/T system, Elazari (1998), presenting the performance and economic aspects of
a commercial type PV/T water heater and Kalogirou (2001), studying a PV/T water heater
for the conditions of Cyprus. Later, Huang et al (2001) present an integrated PV/T system
with hot water storage and Sandness and Rekstad (2002) give results for PV/T collectors
with polymer absorber. Finally, the dynamic 3D and steady 3D, 2D and 1D models for
PV/T prototypes with water heat extraction by Zondag et al (2002), the systems with water
circulation in channels attached to PV modules, also by Zondag et al (2003), the modelling
results by Chow (2003) and the study on domestic PV/T systems by Coventry and
Lovegrove (2003), are some of the recent works on water cooled PV/T systems.
The electrical and thermal output of hybrid PV/T systems can be increased by using
reflectors of low concentration, either of flat type as presented by Sharan et al (1985), AlBaali (1986), and Garg et al (1991) or of CPC type as proposed by Garg and Adhikari
(1999), Brogren et al (2000), Karlsson et al (2001) and Brogren et al (2002). Economic
aspects on PV/T systems are given by Leenders et al (2000), while consideration of the
environmental impact of PV modules by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
methodology has been been extensively used at University of Rome La Sapienza. Apart
of their studies on photovoltaic systems, Frankl et al (2000) presented LCA results on the
comparison of PV/T systems with standard PV and thermal systems, thus confirming the
environmental advantage of PV/T systems.
Study of PV/T systems
Design and performance improvements of hybrid PV/T systems with water or air as heat
removal fluid, have been carried out at the Physics Department of the University of Patras,
Greece . The investigated models include a number of modifications that contribute to the
increase of thermal efficiency, to the decrease of PV module temperature and to the
improvement of the total energy output of the PV/T system. Design concepts, prototype
construction and test results for water and air-cooled PV/T systems (Tripanagnostopoulos
et al 2002a) are referred to PV/T systems with and without additional glass cover. A PVICS system to heat and store water (1998) and the dual type PV/T system operating either
with water or air heat extraction (2001a), have been suggested as alternative PV/T
systems. Regarding air type PV/T systems, experimental results with modified designs are
presented in several works (2000, 2001b, 2002b). Also, results from a life cycle analysis
are given (2003), where water cooled PV/T systems are compared with standard PV
modules and give an idea about the environmental impact of the studied systems. In
15

addition, economic aspects and performance results for water-cooled PV/T systems that
could be applied in houses, multiflat residential buildings, hotels, etc, are included in the
work of Tselepis and Tripanagnostopoulos (2002).
A low cost modification was investigated in University of Patras, by which satisfactory air
heating, reduced PV module temperature and low increase of the opposite channel wall
temperature can be achieved (Tripanagnostopoulos et al, 2000). This modification consists
of a thin flat metallic sheet (TFMS) placed inside the system air channel and along the air
flow, which doubles the heat exchanging surface area and reduces the heat transfer to the
back side of the PV/T system. Considering PV/T solar systems installed on horizontal
building roof, the parallel rows keep a distance from one to the other in order to avoid PV
module shading. University of Patras investigated the use of stationary flat diffuse
reflectors (Fig.6) placed between the PV modules from the higher part of the one row of
them to the lower part of the next row (2001a, 2002a). This installation increases solar
input on PV modules almost all year, resulting to an increase of electrical and thermal
output of the PV/T systems. The diffuse reflectors differ from the specular reflectors, as
they avoid the illumination differences on module surface and the reduction of the
electrical efficiency, because they provide an almost uniform distribution of reflected solar
radiation on PV module surface.

Fig. 6 PV/T systems with booster diffuse reflectors:

a. Horizontal building roof system installation
b. PV/T + REF experimental system with indication of diffuse reflected solar rays

16

We tested the PV/T models regarding the effective electrical efficiency el of it as a

function of concentration ratio C . Actually the obtained value of el is rather the system
performance than the system efficiency. In the steady state tests of PV/T systems with
booster diffuse reflector we can use in all experiments the proper collector - reflector
geometry to achieve the same effective concentration factor Ct with homogeneous
illuminance of PV module surface (we take C Ct ). The angle between the reflector and
the PV module plane and the diffuse reflector must be adjusted in order to measure the
total incoming solar radiation that gives a value of C (for homogeneous additional solar
radiation) of about 1.35, for a net solar radiation intensity G 850 Wm-2 on the plane of
the PV module. The value C 1.35 can be considered as an approximation of a mean
value during Summer, when the effect of the diffuse reflector on thermal and electrical
performance of the PV/T system is more important and used in following tests.

Steady state experiments were performed during noon ( 2 hours), with systems oriented
to the sun in order to ensure constant value of the incoming solar radiation intensity and
using in calculations the collected data extracted from the outdoor tests under almost
constant conditions. Solar radiation intensity variation must not exceed 20 Wm-2, with
diffuse solar radiation up to about 25% of the total incident solar radiation, ambient air
temperature variation 1 K and wind speed variation 0.5 ms-1 in the range of 1-2 ms -1.
The other parameters are the incoming solar radiation G on aperture area, the aperture
area A of the tested systems, the fluid mass flow rate m dm / dt (0.02 Kgs-1), the fluid
temperature rise ( To Ti ) and the fluid specific heat c p (4180 Jkg-1K-1 for water, 1007 Jkg1 -1
K for air). The steady state thermal efficiency th of the hybrid PV/T systems is
calculated by the relation: th m c p ( To Ti ) / A G .
The variation of thermal efficiency th relative to the fluid input temperature Ti , the
ambient temperature T and the incoming solar radiation G is determined experimentally
as a function of the ratio T / G with T Ti T . The function th f ( T / G ) is used for
the performance determination of thermal collectors. It can be also used for the hybrid
PV/T systems, as the thermal part of them corresponds approximately to a thermal
collector. In stagnation operation (th 0 )we used the water heat exchanger temperature (
Twhe ) or air channel temperature ( Tair ), as the systems were operating without fluid flow.
These temperatures were used to determine the corresponding ratio T / G , with
T Twhe Ta or T Tair Ta . During the tests the PV electrical output was connected to a
load, simulating real system operation. With the tested PV/T systems at thermal
equilibrium under ambient conditions, we determine the values of current I m (in A) and
voltage Vm (in V) at maximum power point of PV module operation from the collected I
(in A), V (in V) data. The values of I m and Vm and the net incoming solar radiation G
are used to find the PV module electrical efficiency el for system aperture area Aa using
17

the relation: el I mVm / A G . In hybrid PV/T systems we can consider the total efficiency
tot , which corresponds to the sum of the electrical efficiency el and the thermal
efficiency th of the system, for certain operating conditions.
Studying the effect of booster diffuse reflectors on the hybrid experimental models we
calculated thermal and electrical efficiency from the net incoming solar radiation G on
the PV module surface (without the additional solar input from the diffuse reflector). In
concentrating solar devices the concentration ratio C is determined by the ratio of the
system aperture area to the absorber surface area. In our work the calculation of thermal (
th ) and electrical ( el ) efficiencies is based on G and not on the amount C G , in order
to get the effective values of the corresponding efficiencies, considering that the
additional solar input from the reflector affects th and el rising their values by the
increase of fluid output temperature To (or Twhe , Tair ) and I m , Vm respectively. The
increase of system electrical and thermal output (included in the effective values of th
and el ), provides a clearer comparison of the results from the tested systems with and
without diffuse reflectors.
The study of the experimental PV/T model (PV/WATER) with diffuse reflector includes
tests with variable percentage of the additional solar radiation from the diffuse reflector,
with respect to its electrical efficiency as a function of the pc-Si PV module temperature.
We consider a concentration factor C that corresponds to a homogeneous increase of the
incoming solar radiation on PV module surface, with value C =1 for net solar input
(without additional solar radiation from the diffuse reflector) and C =1.1 for an effective
10% additional solar input, etc, up to C =1.5 for 50 % additional solar input on PV
module. Higher values of factor C are not usually achieved in practice, because of the use
of diffuse reflector in the collector - reflector geometry of Fig.6.
Thermal performance of hybrid PV/T systems with booster diffuse reflector depends on
the fluid input temperature, ambient temperature, incident net solar radiation and the
concentration factor C . The aim of this work is to give comparative results, so the hybrid
PV/T systems were tested under almost same incident net solar radiation G and
concentration factor C , in a small range of ambient temperatures T and wind speed Vw .
In practice the additional solar radiation is not uniformly distributed on PV module surface
and we consider an effective concentration factor Ct that corresponds to solar radiation
profile from bottom to top of PV module surface. We can calculate el for C 1.0 to C
=1.5 (with step 0.1). In Fig. 7 the results from these tests, using fitting lines for the values
of el of the corresponding concentration factor C are presented. These results
correspond to PV module of pc-Si type. The solar radiation from the diffuse reflector
affects the PV module electrical performance but in calculations we use the net solar

18

radiation on PV module (effective nel ) to get the electrical output from the proposed
combination in comparison with that without using diffuse reflector (results for C 1 ).
0.18

Electrical efficiency

el

0.17
0.16

C=1.0

C=1.1

C=1.2

C=1.3

C=1.4

C=1.5

0.15
0.14
0.13
0.12
0.11
0.10
0.09
35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

PV Temperature ( C )

Fig. 7 Results of PV/T system electrical efficiency el for the diffuse reflector
concentration factors C 1 to C 1.5 (step 0.1) and for variable pc-PV module
operating temperature.
The tests can be performed with concentration factor up to C 1.5, where the obtained
maximum value was an upper limit for the used type of diffuse reflector. The results of
Fig. 7 show that an electrical efficiency increase of about 25% for PV operating
temperature T pv 40 C to about 35% for T pv 70 C is achieved, comparing the effect of
using stationary booster diffuse reflector with its practical possible maximum value of
concentration factor ( C 1.5) to the plain PV system ( C 1.0). From the results of Fig. 7
we also calculate a mean electrical efficiency drop of 0.08 % per K of PV temperature
increase. In Figs 8 and 9 the thermal efficiency results and in Figs 9 and 10 the electrical
efficiency results give an idea about the performance of the studied hybrid pc-Si PV/T
systems with water or air heat extraction and regarding the combination with additional
grazing or/and diffuse reflector.

19

Thermal efficiency n

th

1.0

PV / WATER

0.9

PV / WATER + GL

0.8

PV / WATER + REF

0.7

PV / WATER + GL + REF

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
-0.02 -0.01 0.00

0.01 0.02

0.03 0.04

0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08

-1

0.09 0.10

/ G ( KW m )

Fig. 8 Thermal efficiency th results of systems PV/WATER, PV/WATER + GL,

PV/WATER + REF and PV/WATER + GL + REF, as function of T / G operating
values.
1.0
PV / AIR

0.9

PV / AIR + GL

Thermal efficiency

th

0.8

PV / AIR + REF
0.7

PV / AIR + GL + REF

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0.00

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06
-1

0.07

0.08

0.09

0.10

/ G ( KW m )

Fig.9 Thermal efficiency th results of systems PV/AIR, PV/AIR + GL, PV/AIR + REF
and PV/AIR + GL + REF, as function of T / G operating values.

20

0.18

PV / WATER

0.16

PV / WATER + GL

el

PV / WATER + REF

Electrical efficiency

0.14

PV / WATER + GL + REF
0.12
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
-0.02 -0.01 0.00

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04 0.05

0.06

0.07

0.08

0.09

0.10

/ G ( KW -1m2 )

Fig.10
Electrical efficiency el results of systems PV/WATER, PV/WATER + GL,
PV/WATER + REF and PV/WATER + GL + REF, for the corresponding T / G
values of Fig. 9 experiments.
0.18
PV / AIR

Electrical efficiency

el

0.16

PV / AIR + GL

0.14

PV / AIR + REF

0.12

PV / AIR + GL + REF

0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
0.00

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06
-1

0.07

0.08

0.09

0.10

T / G ( KW m )

Fig. 11 Electrical efficiency el results of systems PV/AIR, PV/AIR + GL, PV/AIR +

REF
and PV/AIR + GL + REF, for the corresponding T / G values of Fig.
11 experiments.

21

The use of PV/T systems with additional glazing is interesting mainly for the increase of
system thermal output, because the PV electrical efficiency is reduced or remains the same
in case of using both glazing and booster diffuse reflector. The use of stationary booster
diffuse reflectors with PV/T systems on horizontal building roof installations is an
effective application. This combination increases PV/T system cost by 4%-5%, but results
to an improvement of the electrical output (for C 1.35) by 15%-16%. The results depend
on the location of the installation and the achieved concentration factor during winter (for
Patras) is low ( C 1.35), while the weather conditions are not favorable (cloudy sky) for
the operation of systems. In Spring, Summer and Autumn the corresponding concentration
factor is higher ( C 1.5), resulting to an efficient operation of PV/T systems considering
the favorable weather conditions during this period. The PV/T system with booster diffuse
reflectors of C =1.35 can achieve a percentage increase of electrical efficiency up to 19.2
%, considering total additional cost of about 14 % to the use of plain PV modules. This is
a significant improvement considering the use of stationary reflectors and the additional
thermal output of the system.
From the results obtained, we observe an important increase of thermal and electric energy
attribution due to use of diffuse booster reflectors. The maximum thermal output for water
is 75% (instead of 55% without reflectors) and for air is 60% (instead of 45%, without
reflectors). In relation with temperature, for 65 C, the PV panel with reflectors produces
output that reaches 13% instead of 10% of the PV without reflectors that means an
increase of 30%, which is proportional to the increase of solar radiation. As far as the
electricity production is concerned, this seems to show an increase of 50% for operating
temperature at 65 C, given that the energy output is 15% compared to 10% of the output
of the system without the reflectors. In the above calculation we do not include the
additional solar radiation from the reflections, to get a better idea for the positive effect of
the reflectors.
The perspective of hybrid PV/T applications will have a positive contribution to the
expansion of solar energy device market and PV in particular since they can offer greater
utilization possibilities of PV through hybrid PV/T, without the need of a big subsidy. It is
estimated that in this way, PV can become more popular, while a possible replacement of
10% of thermosiphonic collectors can lead to annual purchases from 1.0 MWp to 1.8
MWp, depending on the PV technology. This will result to the same quantity of heated
water, produced by a typical thermal device, using a slightly bigger surface of PV. In this
case, if we have in mind that solar energy systems are used for the reduction of electricity
use, we can consider that heating water equals electric energy. Apart from this, the
additional electricity produced can be provided to the grid. We can underline that the most
effective production of electricity is succeeded when the PV/T operating temperature is
low, and that means greater energy output but small rise of water temperature.
22

Other aspects for PV/T systems

In PV/T systems the cost of the thermal unit is the same either the PV module is
crystalline-silicon (c-Si), poly-crystalline silicon (pc-Si) or amorphous-silicon (a-Si).
Thus the ratio of the additional cost of the mounted thermal unit per PV module area
cost is different and is almost double in case of using a-Si compared to c-Si or pc-Si PV
modules.
Smaller size PV and PV/T systems, using aperture surface area of about 3-5 m 2 and
water storage tank of 150-200 l, can be installed on one-family houses. Larger size
systems of about 30-50 m2 and 1500-2000 l water storage are more suitable for multiflat residential buildings, hotels, hospitals, industries, etc.
The complete PV/T systems include the necessary additional components (Balance Of
System, BOS, for the electricity and the BOS system for the heat) and therefore the
final energy output is reduced by about 15% due to the electrical and thermal losses
from one part to the other
The European Union has set as a target that 12% of total energy and 22% of electricity
will be produced by renewable sources of energy from the year 2010 on. To this direction,
possible applications of solar energy systems, integrated in buildings for energy
production, are studied. The facades, horizontal and inclined roofs of various buildings
(houses, apartment buildings, hotels, hospitals, athletic centers etc) are appropriate
surfaces for the installation of various types of solar energy collectors that could cover the
energy needs in heating and electricity. Solar devices, developed in the Physics
Department at the University of Patras, like the integrated collector-storage systems (ICS),
the collectors with colored absorbers and the hybrid PV/T systems, can play an important
role in the expansion of solar energy systems utilization, since they constitute improved
systems regarding cost and aesthetic issues.

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