Energy 61 (2013) 59e71

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Energy
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A novel solar trigeneration system based on concentrating

photovoltaic/thermal collectors. Part 1: Design and simulation model
Annamaria Buonomano a, Francesco Calise a, *, Massimo Dentice d’Accadia a, Laura Vanoli b
a
DETEC e Univ. of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy
b
DIT e Univ. of Naples “Parthenope” Centro Direzionale IS.C4, 80143 Naples, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper analyzes the thermodynamic performance of high-temperature PhotoVoltaic/Thermal (PVT)
Received 28 July 2012 solar collectors. The collector is based on a combination of a parabolic dish concentrating solar thermal
Received in revised form collector and a high efficiency solar photovoltaic collector. The PVT system under investigation allows one
4 February 2013
to produce simultaneously electrical energy and high-temperature thermal energy by solar irradiation.
Accepted 7 February 2013
Available online 15 March 2013
The main aim of this study is the design and the analysis of a concentrating PVT which is able to operate
at reasonable electric and thermal efficiency up to 180
C. In fact, the PVT is designed to be integrated in a
Solar Heating and Cooling system and it must drive a two-effect absorption chiller. This capability is quite
Keywords:
PVT
new since conventional PVT collectors usually operate below 45
C. Among the possible high-
Triple-junction temperature PVT systems, this paper is focused on a system consisting in a dish concentrator and in a
Solar energy triple-junction PV layer. In particular, the prototype consists in a parabolic dish concentrator and a planar
receiver. The system is equipped with a double axis tracking system. The bottom surface of the receiver is
equipped with triple-junction silicon cells whereas the top surface is insulated. In order to analyze the
performance of the Concentrating PVT (CPVT) collector a detailed mathematical model was implemented.
This model is based on zero-dimensional energy balances on the control volumes of the system. The
simulation model allows one to calculate in detail the temperatures of the main components of the
system (PV layer, concentrator, fluid inlet and outlet and metallic substrate) and the main energy flows
(electrical energy, useful thermal energy, radiative losses, convective losses). The input parameters of the
model include all the weather conditions (temperature, insolation, wind velocity, etc.) and the
geometrical/material parameters of the systems (lengths, thermal resistances, thicknesses, etc.). Results
showed that both electrical and thermal efficiencies are very good in a wide range of operating condi-
tions. The study also includes a comprehensive sensitivity analysis in which the main design variables
were varied in order to evaluate the related variations of both electrical and thermal efficiencies.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
It is diffusely recognized that solar energy is one of the most
viable type of renewable energy sources. It is well known that solar
energy availability is significantly higher than the overall world-
wide energy demand [1e4]. Unfortunately, for several years this
renewable energy source has been largely underutilized for several
reasons. First, the capital cost of solar systems was significantly
higher than the one of conventional systems based on fossil fuels.
Then, the cost of the fossil fuels was very low due to their large
availability. Finally, solar systems were penalized by a very low
power density, especially when compared to the conventional
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 0817682301; fax: þ39 0812390364.
E-mail addresses: frcalise@unina.it, frcalise@gmail.com (F. Calise).
systems based on fossil fuels. However, during the last few years, a
new impulse is pushing the research regarding solar system as a
consequence of the emerging policies of several governments
promoting environmental-friendly energy sources, other than fossil
fuels [1,5e12].
It is well known that solar energy can be used to produce
electrical energy and/or thermal energy, respectively by photovol-
taic collectors (PV) and heat by thermal solar collectors (SC).
Therefore, the production of both thermal and electrical energies
requires the installation of two separate solar fields (PV and SC).
This circumstance is often unfeasible due to the large land surface
required to supply the demanded thermal and electrical energies
[1,5,9]. An improvement for increasing the overall power density of
both technologies consists in a combination of PV and SC effects.
This occurs in photovoltaic/thermal collectors (PVT) which simul-
taneously provide electricity and heat. A PVT collector consists of a

0360-5442/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2013.02.009
60 A. Buonomano et al. / Energy 61 (2013) 59e71

Nomenclature q hour of the day

r density [kg/m3]
A area [m2] rPVT PVT reflectance
c specific heat [J/kg/K] s StephaneBotzmann constant
CPVT concentration ratio m viscosity [kg/m/s]
CPVT concentrating PhotoVoltaic thermal solar collectors hinv inverter efficiency
d fluid channel diameter [m] hmod module efficiency
fsp function of the ratio hPV PV efficiency
GPVT incident radiative flow [W] hopt optical efficiency
hc convective heat transfer coefficient [W/m2/K] hth thermal efficiency
hf fluid specific enthalpy [J/kg] hel electrical efficiency
IAM incident angle modifier
Ib beam radiation [W/m2] Subscripts
Itot total radiation [W/m2] a ambient
k conductivity [W/m/K] ap aperture
L length [m] avg average
m_f fluid mass flow rate [kg/s] back back surface
n number of channels ch channel
Nu Nusselt number conc concentrator
NTU number of transfer unit conv convective
p pressure [kPa] el electrical
PPVT PVT electrical power [W] f fluid
Pr Prandtl number gross gross
PV PhotoVoltaic HEX heat EXchanger
PVT PhotoVoltaic thermal solar collectors in inlet
Q heat [Wh] ins insulation
Q_ thermal power [W] net net
r area specific thermal resistance [m2 K/W] out outlet
Re Reynolds number plate square receiver
SC solar collectors PVT PhotoVoltaic thermal
T temperature [K] rec receiver
w velocity [m/s] side side of the rectangle
sky referred to sky
Greek symbols sub substrate
a absorptance top top surface
3R emittance th thermal
3 heat transfer effectiveness u Useful

conventional thermal collector whose absorber is covered by a
suitable PV layer [13]. The absorbed thermal energy is distributed to
a fluid (typically air or water), whereas the PV produces electricity
[1,5]. The result of this arrangement is the combined production of
electricity and heat and a possible improvement of PV efficiency.
For the majority of the PV materials, the electrical efficiency linearly
decreases with the temperature [14]. Therefore, when the fluid
average temperature is relatively low (usually <40
C), the oper-
ating temperature of the PV layer may be lower than the one ach-
ieved by a conventional PV collector. In this case the electrical
efficiency of the PVT would be higher than the PV one [1,5,14]. For
this reason, PVT systems are particularly efficient when low-
temperature heat is demanded (e.g., domestic hot water, floor
heating, desiccant cooling etc.). The selection of PV material to be
integrated in a PVT collector is a key point for an efficient design of
such systems. In fact, the PV material must be selected as a function
of the operating temperature of the PVT collector. When this tem-
perature is low, crystalline Silicon cells (c-Si) are typically adopted
(the typical temperature coefficient is 0.45%/K). Conversely, for
higher operating temperatures (typically >80
C) innovative PV
materials (e.g. triple-junction) must be considered, since they are
less sensitive to the operating temperature [1,5,14]. A further
possible option may consist in the use of amorphous Silicon cells
(a-Si) since they are cheaper than c-Si and their temperature co-
efficient (about 0.2%/K) is typically lower than the one of c-Si. The
use of a-Si is only limited by the fact that their electrical efficiency is
typically lower than the one of c-Si cells. A possible alternative for
increasing fluid PVT outlet temperature, without decreasing PV
electrical efficiency, may consist in the use of a heat pump (driven
by PV electricity) [1,5,15]. Although the basic idea of the PVT was
developed about 40 years ago, this product is still far from a mature
commercialization [16]. Thus, several researchers are investigating
several novel PVT arrangements [16e19]. For example, Zhao et al.
investigated a novel PVT where thermal and electrical sections are
separated [20]. Furthermore, the selection of the appropriate cover
(tedlar, DEA, glass-to-glass, etc.) is still not established due to the
need of reducing simultaneously cover reflectance and heat
transfer coefficient [21]. Similarly, different studies investigated the
optimal design of fluid channels. Different options are under
investigation: the cooling fluid may flow between the PV and the
absorber or between the absorber and the insulation (as usual in
SC) [1,5]. Usually, the adopted PVT cooling fluid is water [18].
However, several studies are focused on the use of air [19] or a
combination of air and water [17]. The use of air as cooling fluid is
very attractive in case of building integration (BIPVT) [22].
Anyhow, the main issue regarding PVT development is the
reduction of their capital cost, which is a crucial point for a possible
future massive commercialization of this technology. For the same
peak power, the capital cost of PVT systems can be significantly
reduced increasing the radiative flux incident on PV receiver. In this
 A. Buonomano et al. / Energy 61 (2013) 59e71
case, a dramatic reduction of the PV area per kWp would be ach-
ieved. This reduction also results in a proportional decrease of
system capital costs. It is well known that an increase of radiative
flux can be achieved by concentrating systems. Concentrating PVT
collectors (CPVT) consist in PVT collectors placed in the focus of
some reflectors (Fresnel, parabolic, dish, etc.) [1,5,15,23]. Note also
that CPVT can only convert the beam fraction of the total radiation.
Therefore, when the beam-to-total radiation ratio is low, these
devices may be scarcely convenient with respect to the conven-
tional PVT. In fact, CPVT cannot utilize the diffuse radiation which is
converted into electricity and heat by conventional flat plate PVT
systems. Furthermore, the increase of radiative flux achieved in
case of CPVT systems also allows one to raise CPVT and fluid average
temperatures. In case of PVT a theoretical maximum temperature of
240
C has been estimated, although prototypal CPVT typically
operate below 100
C in order to preserve system reliability and
operating life [23,24]. However, such temperature cannot be ach-
ieved by conventional c-Si cells since their voltage drops to zero
around 270
C [14]. For high-temperature CPVT systems the most
suitable PV material is the triple-junction PV whose nominal effi-
ciency of 40% (at 25
C) drops around 20% at 240
C. The perspective
of using high-temperature PVT is very interesting since it extends
the number of possible applications. An example consists in the use
of the high-temperature heat provided by the PVT to drive a heat
engine [25] or an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) [26] or a Solar
Heating and Cooling system (SHC) [23].
However, commercially or pre-commercially available CPVT
systems are typically a small amount of the PVT under development
[16]. Similarly, the availability of theoretical and experimental
studies investigating CPVT performance is scarce. In particular,
Mittelman et al. [23,27,28] performed some experimental and
theoretical works dealing with CPVT systems. In reference [28]
presented a novel miniature CPVT based on a dish concentrator
(0.95 m2) and a silicon PV cell. A thermal model for that system was
developed in order to predict its performance. The system provides
140e180 W of electricity and 400e500 W of heat. The cost of the
system was evaluated at 2.5 $ per peak electric Watt. The operation
at high temperature of similar CPVT systems was also analyzed both
for solar cooling [23] and water desalination [27] applications. A
Parabolic Trough CPVT prototype was experimentally investigated
by Coventry [29]. In this work the author pointed out that one of
the major challenges in designing CPVT systems is to achieve an
acceptable radiation flux distribution. The concentration ratio of
the system under investigation was 37, thermal and electrical ef-
ficiencies were rated respectively at 58% and 11%. In this study the
author also concluded that the thermal efficiency of CPVT is higher
than the one of flat plate solar collectors only when radiation is
scarce and/or ambient temperature is low. In fact, flat plate col-
lectors convert both beam and diffuse radiation, whereas CPVT can
only convert the beam one. Parabolic Trough CPVT were also
investigated by Li et al. [30e32] comparing the electrical and
thermal efficiencies of the system varying the PV technology, for
different concentration ratio. Authors concluded that GeAs cells
increase electrical efficiency with respect to silicon cells. However,
the thermal efficiency of GeAs results lower than the one of silicon
cells. Authors also pointed out that the cost of unit area of the GeAs
is 3067.16 $/m2 versus the 131.34 $/m2 of the silicon cell. A similar
work was performed by Bernardo et al. analyzing a low concen-
trating parabolic trough CPVT for the Swedish climate [33]. This
study presents a thermal model of the PVT subsequently validated
by experimental data. The system is based on a combination of a
one axis tracking parabolic concentrator and silicon cells. This
prototype is distributed by the Swedish company Absolicon.
Additional specific applications of CPVT technology are also inves-
tigated in literature. Xu et al. [34] analyzed the integration of CPVT
61
in the evaporator of a heat pump system. Al-Alili et al. [35] inves-
tigated the use of a CPVT in a desiccant cooling system. Finally,
Rosell et al. [36] investigated a low concentrating PVT system based
on a linear Fresnel receiver. The system was analyzed by a mathe-
matical model subsequently validated by experimental data. The
rated thermal efficiency was about 60%.
In a previous study published by some of the authors, a detailed
finite-volume model of concentrating photovoltaic/thermal (PVT)
solar collectors was developed. Such collectors are equipped with a
parabolic trough concentrator coupled with a linear triangular
receiver. Here energetic and exergetic sensitivity analyses were
carried out [37]. With respect to such study, this paper is focused on
the technology of concentrating parabolic dish PVT solar collectors.
The paper presents a design procedure and a simulation model of a
novel concentrating PVT collector. The layout of the PVT system
under investigation was derived from a prototype recently pre-
sented in literature [23,28] and commercially available. From this
point of view, a zero-dimensional model of such prototype
concentrating PVT collector was developed, validated and pre-
sented by some of the authors in references [38,39]. Here, a water
coolant operating at low-medium temperature was taken into ac-
count. With respect to such previous studies and the literature
review, the main novelties of the presented work consist in: i) the
design of the prototype microchannel, and ii) the type of coolant
fluid (diathermic oil), working at high temperature. Such modifi-
cations were adopted with the scope to improve the device overall
performance and permit its integration in high-temperature solar
heating and cooling systems. Furthermore, the final goal of this
paper was the development of a new simulation model of the dish
CPVT collector to be included in TRNSYS simulation environment
[40], aiming at using this model for dynamic simulations of solar
trigeneration systems (as sown in Section 2 of this paper). The
prototype consisted in a parabolic dish concentrator and a planar
receiver. The bottom surface of the receiver (facing the concen-
trator) is equipped with triple-junction silicon cells whereas the
top surface is covered by a thermal insulation. With respect to the
hybrid square microchannel solar cell thermal tile of the original
prototype, in this work the PV layer is placed on a metallic substrate
which include the fluid channels required for the heat removal. The
system is managed by a double axis tracking system, following both
solar azimuth and zenith angles. Similar systems (consisting of a
single and two coupled dish concentrators) were recently pre-
sented by an Israeli company (www.zenithsolar.com). In the pre-
sent study a detailed 0-dimensional mathematical model of the
CPVT under investigation has been developed. This model is based
on zero-dimensional mass and energy balances on the control
volumes of the system. In particular, in order to identify the energy
losses occurring during the incident solar radiation conversion to
electricity and heat, one dimensional heat transfer and steady state
operation assumptions have been adopted.
The model was subsequently used in order to design and
parametrically optimize the system. Therefore, this procedure al-
lows one to identify several design parameters, such as: thermal
insulation rate, fluid channel geometry, receiver geometry, etc. The
simulation model also allows one to calculate in detail the tem-
peratures of the main components of the system (PV layer,
concentrator, fluid inlet and outlet and metallic substrate) and the
main energy flows (electrical energy, useful thermal energy, radi-
ative losses, convective losses). The input parameters of the model
include all the weather conditions (temperature, insolation, wind
velocity, etc.) and the geometrical/material parameters of the sys-
tems (lengths, thermal resistances, thicknesses, etc.). The model
was also used in order to evaluate both electrical and thermal ef-
ficiency curves related to the beam incident radiation, fluid inlet
temperature and external temperature. Finally, the same model
62 A. Buonomano et al. / Energy 61 (2013) 59e71
will be used in additional works for being integrated in transient
simulation environments in order to evaluate the overall yearly
performance of the system under investigation.
2. CPVT simulation model
2.1. System layout
The idea of CPVT considered in this study is based on the work
performed by Mittelman et al. [23,28] and on the prototype
recently commercialized by ZenithSolar. However, the geometrical
properties and the materials of the CPVT considered in this study
are significantly different from those of the above-mentioned
prototype. The CPVT (Fig. 1) consists in a parabolic dish concen-
trator, equipped with a two-axis tracking system. A planar receiver
is placed in the focus of the parabola. This receiver consists of:
triple-junction PV layer, metallic substrate including fluid channels,
thermal insulation (Fig. 1).
The side of the planar receiver facing the parabolic dish
concentrator is equipped InGaP/InGaAs/Ge triple-junction solar
cells [24], whereas the top side of the receiver is equipped with a
thermal insulation. The receiver includes an inner channel where
the fluid to be heated flows. Therefore, the concentrated solar
irradiation is converted simultaneously in electricity by the PV layer
and in thermal energy by the cooling fluid.
2.2. Governing equations
Although simplified models for the calculation of CPVT perfor-
mance are available in literature [41], they cannot be applied to the
system under investigation due to the use of concentrating systems
and triple-junction cells. Therefore, an appropriate model, based on
energy balances, has been developed in this paper in order to
design and simulate the CPVT under investigation. This is a 0-D
model since the final scope of this work is to create a new Type
to be integrated in TRNSYS environment [40]. The model of the
CPVT has been developed in EES (Engineering Equation Solver)
which can be easily interfaced with TRNSYS, since it allows a simple
formulation of the equations as well as their fast and robust solu-
tion. Therefore, the model should be sufficiently fast for being used
in a quasi-stationary yearly simulation.
The general assumptions adopted for the model are: thermo-
dynamic equilibrium, steady state, kinetic and gravitational terms
negligible in the energy balances, radiation uniformly concentrated
along PV area. In addition the small thickness of the PV layer and the
high conductivity in the metal substrate allow one to assume
negligible temperature gradients in the PV film and in the substrate.
3.9 m
Concentrator
Receiver
CPVT Upper View
Fluid
Channel
Concentrator
Receiver
CPVT Frontal View
Fig. 1. CPVT layout.
In other words PV and substrate temperature are assumed uniform.
All these assumptions are consistent with those typically adopted
in literature [1,5,17,23,28,29,33,36,42,43].
The system was assumed to operate up to 180
C, since it is
intended to supply hot stream to a double-effect absorption chiller
for Solar Heating and Cooling applications. Therefore, diathermic
oil was considered as operating fluid. Nevertheless, since the model
discussed above is general, it can be used with any fluid. The
thermo-physical properties of the oil were assumed not depending
on the operating temperature, though empirical temperature-
dependent correlation could be easily implemented when avail-
able. Such values are summarized in Table 1.
Conversely, the thermo-physical properties of the air area
accurately calculated using the routines included in EES software.
In this study a rectangular shape for the receiver is assumed.
Therefore, the frontal area of the receiver (Arec) is the square of the
length of the two sides (Lside,1 and Lside,2) of the rectangle:
Arec ¼ Lside;1 $Lside;2 (1)
Obviously, the same area will be considered for all the layers of
the receiver (PVT, insulation, metallic substrate, etc.).
The concentration ratio is defined as the ratio between the area
of the receiver, Arec and the aperture area, Aap, of the concentrator:
Arec
CPVT ¼ (2)
Aap
The optical efficiency (hopt) of the concentrator is assumed being
constant [23]. Therefore, the radiation incident on the receiver
surface (PV side, facing the concentrator) is:
GPVT ¼ Arec Ib CPVT hopt (3)
As usual in concentrating systems, in the previous equation only
the beam incident radiation (Ib) is considered. Note that, due to the
double axis tracking system of the collector under investigation, the
solar radiation is always perpendicular to the concentrator aperture
area. In this case, no Incidence Angle Modifier (IAM) [4] must be
considered.
Note also that solar radiation concentrated on the PVT layer is
not the sole radiation incident on the receiver. In fact, the top
surface of the receiver absorbs part of the total radiation incident on
its surface. In this case, the calculation of the heat absorbed by the
top surface of the receiver (facing the sky) must consider the total
radiation since this is a non-concentrated radiative heat flux.
Therefore, the additional thermal energy absorbed by the top
thermal absorber is:
Fluid Channel
0.60 m
Substrate
0.60 m
Receiver Upper Section
Thermal
Insulation
Substrate
PV Layer
Receiver Frontal Section
 A. Buonomano et al. / Energy 61 (2013) 59e71 63

Table 1
Diathermic oil properties. hPV ¼ 0:298 þ 0:0142ln ðCPVT Þ
Property Value Unit
þ ½  0:000715 þ 0:0000697ln ðCPVT ÞðTPVT  298Þ
Specific heat, cp 2980 J/(kg K) (11)
Viscosity, m 4558 $ 106 Pa s
Conductivity, k 0.113 W/(m K) The net power produced by the system is reduced by the
Density, r 870 kg/m3 amount of electricity lost in the module connections and in the
inverter, considering the corresponding conversion efficiencies
(hmod and hinv) [23].

Qtop ¼ Atop Itot atop (4) PPVT;net ¼ PPVT;gross hmod hinv (12)

Assuming the top surface area as gray surface and considering Finally, the useful heat absorbed by the cooling fluid is:
that the area of the top surface is much lower than the one of the
sky, the radiative heat transfer between the top surface (side of _ f ðhout  hin Þ
Qu ¼ m (13)
insulation facing the sky) and the sky can be calculated as
In the previous equation, the enthalpies of the inlet and outlet
follows [4]:
cooling fluid (hin and hout) are calculated by the thermo-physical
  property subroutine discussed above.
Qtopsky ¼ Atop 3 R;top s Ttop
4 4
 Tsky (5) Therefore, the overall energy balance on a control volume
including the entire receiver (from PVT to the insulation) is:

 
Arec Ib CPVT hopt þ Atop Itot atop ¼ m_ f ðhout  hin Þ þ CPVT Arec Ib hopt hPV þ Arec Ib CPVT hopt rPVT þ Atop 3 R;top s Ttop
4 4
 Tsky
 
(14)
þ APVT s3 R;PVT TPVT
4 4
 Tconc þ APVT hc;PVT ðTPVT  Ta Þ þ Atop hc;top Ttop  Ta

Here, the sky equivalent temperature is calculated using TRNSYS
routine.
Similarly, assuming the area of the concentrator much larger
than the one of the PVT receiver and assuming both PVT and
concentrator as gray surfaces, the radiative heat transfer between
the PVT and the concentrator [4]:
 
QPVTconc ¼ APVT s3 R;PVT TPVT
4 4
 Tconc
The convective heat transfer between the PVT and the air is
calculated as follows [44]:
Qconv;PVT ¼ APVT hc;PVT ðTPVT  Ta Þ
The convective heat transfer coefficient, hc,PVT, included in the
previous equation is calculated using the following correlation,
relating the Nusselt, Reynolds and Prandtl numbers [44]:
Nu ¼ 0:664Pr3 Re2
1 1
The same correlation is used to calculate the heat transfer co-
efficient between the top receiver surface and the air, hc,top. The
corresponding heat flow is [44]:

UHEX AHEX
Qconv;top ¼ Atop hc;top Ttop  Ta
The gross electrical power produced by the PV layer is:
PPVT;gross ¼ CPVT APVT Ib hopt hPV
Note that this energy is calculated considering the concentrated
beam radiation (corrected by the concentrator optical efficiency)
incident on the PV layer, corrected by the electrical efficiency of the
PV, hPV. As discussed above no IAM coefficient must be taken into
account due to the double axis tracking system, included in the
CPVT under investigation.
The electrical efficiency of the triple-junction PV (hPV) is
experimentally related to the concentration ratio and to the tem-
perature [23].
Note that in this energy balance the left side is representative of
the energy flows entering the control volume, whereas the terms at
the right side of the equation are the energy flows exiting the
control volume. Among these terms at the right side, the first one is
the useful thermal energy, the second one is the electrical power
produced and all the remaining terms are losses, clearly divided
between radiative and convective ones.
(6) A second energy balance considers the control volume including
the metallic substrate and the fluid channel (also including the fluid
flowing inside). In this study, this control volume can be considered
as a heat exchanger. In particular, it is here assumed that the tem-
perature of the metallic substrate is homogeneous along both di-
(7)
rections. In this case, the primary side of the heat exchanger is at
constant temperature equal to the temperature of the metallic
substrate. This assumption can be considered acceptable as a
consequence of the high thermal conductivity of the metallic sub-
strate [23,27,28,33,42] and allows one to develop a 0-D model of the
(8) CPVT. According to this approach, the thermal performance of the
heat exchanger can be calculated using the well-known 3 -NTU
technique [45]. For the case under consideration, the NTU number is:
1
AHEX
1
þ rsub
hfluid
(9) NTU ¼ ¼ (15)
_C _ f cf
m
min
Here, the overall heat transfer coefficient, UHEX, is calculated
(10) taking into account both substrate and fluid thermal resistances.
Similarly, the minimum heat capacity ratio, C_ min , is calculated with
respect to the fluid. The heat exchange area, AHEX, is the lateral area
of the fluid channel (see arrangement shown in Fig. 1), which is
proportional to the overall length of the fluid channel included in
the metallic substrate, LHEX. Such length is calculated taking into
account all the length of all the straight channels and considering
their quantity (nch).


AHEX ¼ pdch LHEX ¼ pdch Lside;2 nch (16)
64 A. Buonomano et al. / Energy 61 (2013) 59e71

The number of channels has been determined as a function of sun) of the concentrator, and the convective heat loss at the back
the ratio (fsp) between the actual and maximum number of surface.
channels: Eqs. (14), (20), (21), (24) and (25) are a system of five equations
  in the above mentioned five unknowns. This system of equations is
Lside;1
nch ¼ INTEGER fsp (17) highly non-linear as a consequence of the radiative terms included
dch in the energy balances and of the correlations for the calculations of
The thermal resistance of the metallic substrate, rsub, is typically heat transfer coefficients. This system must be solved by conven-
orders of magnitude lower than the one of the fluid. According to tional numerical iterative techniques.
the assumption used in reference [28] and to the calculated values Note also that the model discussed above lies on the assumption
of Reynolds number, the fluid heat transfer coefficient, hfluid, is of steady state. However, this assumption can be easily removed,
evaluated assuming a fully developed turbulent flow: simply adding the capacitive terms in the five energy balances
described above. In that case, the algebraic system of equations
4 2
turns in a system of differential equations that can be easily solved
Nuf ¼ 0:023Re5f Pr5f (18)
using well-known techniques also included in EES. However, re-
Finally, the heat transfer effectiveness is [45]: sults from those calculations showed that these capacitive terms
are usually negligible, so that the deviation of results between the
3 ¼ 1  eNTU (19) steady and transient models is often small. Therefore, it can be
concluded that, for the case under investigation, the steady model
Thus, the energy balance for the considered heat exchanger is:
is preferable since it is much faster than the transient one.
_ f ðhout  hin Þ ¼ 3 m
m _ f cf ðTsub  Tin Þ (20) The overall performance of the CPVT is often evaluated using the
well-known thermal and electrical efficiencies, which are conven-
The third of the required five equations is derived from an en- tionally related to the incident beam radiation and to the collector
ergy balance on a control volume including the PVT layer, and the aperture area:
metallic substrate.
_ f ðhout  hin Þ
m
T  Tsub T  Ttop hCPVT;th ¼ (26)
Arec PVT _ f ðhout  hin Þ þ Atop sub
¼ m (21) Aap Ib
rPVTsub rtop
Thermal resistances can be calculated as follows: CPVT APVT Ib hopt hPV
hCPVT;el ¼ (27)
Aap Ib
tPVT t
rPVTsub ¼ þ sub (22)
kPVT 2ksub
2.3. Design data and model validation
t t
rtop ¼ sub þ insul (23) CPVT design parameters are reported in Table 2 [23,27,28,33,42]
2ksub kinsul
whereas the boundary conditions are shown in Table 3. Note that
In other words, the previous equation shows that the conductive these design parameters are selected with the scope of using the
thermal flow coming from the PVT layer is partly used to increase CPVT collector under investigation to drive a double-effect ab-
the outlet temperature of the cooling fluid and is partly con- sorption chiller in a solar heating and cooling system. Presently, no
ductively exchanged with the top side of the receiver. data is still available in literature for the CPVT analyzed in this pa-
A fourth energy balance can be considered with respect to the per, since the related experimental campaign is still in progress.
control volume including the top side of the substrate and the top However, some performance data are available for a similar system
surface of the receiver: equipped with c-Si cells [39,46]. Therefore, in order to perform a
  validation of the simulation model discussed in the previous sec-
Tsub  Ttop
Atop þ Atop Itop ¼ Atop Itop rtop þ Atop 3 R;top s Ttop
4 4
 Tsky tions, the design parameters and the boundary conditions have
rtop been modified according to the peculiarities of the experimented


þ Atop hc;top Ttop  Ta prototype [39,46]. The model showed an acceptable accuracy, being
able to predict the CPVT fluid outlet temperature with an error in
(24)
the same order of magnitude of the measurement uncertainty, as
Finally, the last energy balance considers the control volume shown in Fig. 2. A similar accuracy is also achieved for the predic-
including only the parabolic dish concentrator. tion of the electrical production. However, the validation of the

   
APVT s3 R;PVT TPVT
4 4
 Tconc þ Itot Aconc aconc ¼ Aconc s3 R;conc;back Tconc
4 4
 Tsky þ Aconc hc;conc;front ðTconc  Ta Þ
(25)
þ Aconc hc;conc;back ðTconc  Ta Þ

In this case, the left side of the energy balance includes the
radiative heat transfer with the PVT and the radiative energy
absorbed by the concentrator surface. Conversely, the terms at the
right side of the equations are respectively: the radiative heat
transfer of the back surface (external side of the parabola) of the
concentrator, the convective losses at the front surface (facing the
electrical performance is not significant for the present study since
the prototype under investigation is equipped with c-Si cells,
whereas the CPVT considered in this study used IIIeV cells.
Nevertheless, as discussed before, Eq. (11) is derived from experi-
mental data. Therefore, the electrical performance of the CPVT
under investigation is intrinsically validated.
 A. Buonomano et al. / Energy 61 (2013) 59e71 65

Table 2
CPVT design parameters.

Parameter Symbol Value Unit

Receiver Side 1 Length Lside,1 0.60 m
Receiver Side 2 Length Lside,2 0.60 m
CPVT aperture area Aap 12 m2
Fluid channel diameter d 0.02 m
Top surface absorptance atop 0.30
Top surface reflectance rtop 0.03
Concentrator absorptance aconc 0.03
Back surface concentrator 3 conc 0.30
emissivity
Top surface emissivity 3 top 0.20
PV reflectance rPVT 0.03
PV emissivity 3 R,PVT 0.20
Fluid channel diameter dch 0.02
Optical efficiency hopt 0.90
Module efficiency hmod 0.90
Inverter efficiency hinv 0.90
Top thermal resistance rtop 3.75 m2
C/W
PVT-substrate thermal rPVT-sub 3.8 $ 104 m2
C/W
resistance Fig. 3. CPVT electrical and thermal efficiency.
Fluid channel spacing fsp 0.50

linear interpolating curve. In fact, the thermal efficiency curve of a

solar thermal collector is a second-order polynomial only when
Table 3
constant heat transfer coefficients are considered [4]. However, the
CPVT boundary conditions.
proposed model is more accurate that the conventional approach
Parameter Symbol Value Unit [4], since the overall heat transfer coefficients are not constant and


Fluid inlet temperature Tin 150 C vary with the CPVT operating conditions.


Sky temperature Tsky 25 C


Conversely, there is not any good correlation between the
Ambient temperature Ta 25 C
Ambient pressure pa 101 kPa electrical efficiency and the parameter shown in Eq. (28). In fact, the
Wind velocity wa 5.0 m/s electrical efficiency of the CPVT basically depends on the operating
Total radiation Itot 1000 W/m2 temperature of the PV layer and on the concentration ratio, as
Beam radiation Ib 800 W/m2 shown in Eq. (11). In the case of the electrical efficiency it is a
common use to show this parameter as a function of fluid average
temperature [29,33,42]. This graph is shown in Fig. 4 where the
3. Results and discussion linear interpolating curve is also displayed. Such figure shows that
the electrical efficiency basically linearly depends on the fluid mean
On the basis of the model of the CPVT discussed in the previous temperature since such temperature directly affects the PV layer
section, the curves of the electrical and thermal efficiencies were temperature. Note also that the electrical efficiency scarcely de-
analyzed as a function of the well-known parameter [4]. pends on the incident beam radiation. The plot shown in Fig. 4 is a
sort of graphical representation of the PVT electrical efficiency
  correlation shown in Eq. (11).
Tin þ Tout
 Ta Fig. 3 shows that the optical efficiency of the CPVT under
2 Tf ;avg  Ta
¼ (28) investigation is slightly lower than 60%. Similarly, it is also impor-
Ib Ib
tant to show that the efficiency curve is stably positive even in the
The result of this analysis is shown in Fig. 3. Here, it is clearly region in which the parameter of Eq. (28) is very high. This
shown that CPVT thermal efficiency is linearly correlated to the
parameter of Eq. (28). However, the same plot also shows a not
negligible deviation of the simulated points with respect to the

Fig. 2. Model validation: fluid outlet temperature. Fig. 4. CPVT electrical efficiency vs fluid mean temperature.
66 A. Buonomano et al. / Energy 61 (2013) 59e71

circumstance corresponds to high fluid operating temperatures 2000 9000

Itop, Qconv,top, Qconv,PVT, Qrad,top, Qrad,PVT [kJ/h]

and/or low ambient temperature and beam radiation. In other
words, the CPVT under investigation can operate in conditions in 8000

which the majority of non-concentrating PVT system would not 1500

IPVT, PPVT, Qu [kJ/h]

Itop Qrad,PVT Qconv,top Qconv,PVT 7000
produce any useful thermal heat. Similarly, the use of triple-
I PVT Qu Qrad,top PPVT
junction PV cells allows one to achieve ultra-high electrical effi- 6000
ciency (ranging between 20% and 25%) even when the operating 1000
temperature is higher than 150
C [24]. 5000
This results in a higher optical efficiency and in a very high value
of the electrical efficiency. In fact, this last efficiency ranges be- 4000
500
tween 19% and 25% for the considered operating points (Fig. 4).
3000
Although concentrating systems are particularly sensitive to the
available beam radiation, such values of thermal and electrical ef- 2000
0
ficiencies are comparable to those obtained by Kribus et al. [28] and 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
higher than those reported by Coventry et al. [29] and Bernardo Lplate [m]
et al. [33,42]. In particular, concerning parabolic trough photovol-
taic/thermal collectors, measured results under typical operating Fig. 6. CPVT electrical and thermal power vs Lplate.

conditions show a thermal efficiency around 45% and 58% and an

electrical efficiency around 6.4 and 11%, respectively in references
3 HE,as a function of this parameter. Here, it is clearly displayed that
[33,42] and [29]. Such results are not comparable to those obtained
both efficiencies are significantly affected by the increase of
by conventional photovoltaic modules and solar thermal collectors
receiver length. In particular, the thermal efficiency decreases for
(using low concentrating parabolic reflectors) [47] working side by
higher receiver lengths. Conversely, the electrical efficiency is a
side. On the contrary, with respect to conventional alternatives,
non-monotonic function of the plate length. In fact, the electrical
concentrating dish PVT collectors show much better performance.
efficiency depends on both PVT temperature and concentration
These good results achieved in the present work are basically due to
ratio. Obviously, the concentration ratio decreases for higher
the very high efficiency triple-junction PV cells and to the double
lengths of the receiver since the concentrator area is constant and
axis tracking system taken into account.
the receiver area increases. As a consequence, an increase of the
In the following paragraphs a brief parametric study is per-
receiver area also determines a general decrease of the PVT tem-
formed, with the scope to analyze the performance of the CPVT
peratures (as clearly shown in Fig. 7). Therefore, the simultaneous
under different operating conditions and varying some of its main
decrease of PVT temperature and the decrease of the concentration
design parameters. The study was performed considering the set of
ratio determine the non-monotonic trend shown in Fig. 5. Similarly,
boundary conditions shown in Table 3. This parametric analysis
increasing the length of the receiver also causes an increase of the
aims at evaluating the effect of the variation of the design param-
heat exchange area, consequently determining the increase of heat
eters on the CPVT thermal and electrical performance.
exchange effectiveness, shown in Fig. 5. Note also that the decrease
The parametric analysis presented in this work aims at assessing
of the operating temperature shown in Fig. 6 would suggest an
the effect of the variation of some of the main geometrical pa-
increase of the thermal efficiency, due to the lower temperature
rameters on the overall performance of the system.
differences with the environment. However, Fig. 6 clearly shows
One of the main parameters is the geometry of the receiver. In
that an increase of the area of the receiver also determine an in-
fact, the variation of the lengths of the sides of the receiver
crease of the exchange area, determining a significant increase of
significantly affects several operating parameters, such as: con-
both radiative and convective losses. Fig. 6 also shows that
centration ratio, heat transfer area, average temperature, etc. In this
convective losses are dominant over the radiative ones for all the
analysis, for brevity, the receiver was assumed square and the
considered operating conditions. Furthermore, convective losses
length of the side of the square receiver, Lplate, was varied para-
also increase as a consequence of the increase of the top surface
metrically. The results of this parametric analysis are shown in
temperature, as shown in Fig. 7. As a result, the increase of plate
Figs. 5e7. In particular, Fig. 5 shows both thermal (ht,PVT) and
length causes a slight increase of thermal losses, determining the
electrical (hel,PVT) efficiencies as well as heat exchange effectiveness,
consequent decrease of both thermal efficiency and useful thermal

450 28
Ttop
400 27.8
To
350
Ttop, To, Tsub, TPVT [C]

Tsub 27.6
300 TPVT
27.4
Tconc
Tconc [C]

250
27.2
200
27
150
26.8
100

50 26.6

0 26.4
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Lplate [m]

Fig. 5. CPVT efficiencies vs Lplate. Fig. 7. CPVT temperatures vs Lplate.

 A. Buonomano et al. / Energy 61 (2013) 59e71 67

300 27.4

27.3
250 Ttop Tsub

Ttop, To, Tsub, TPVT [C]

To TPVT 27.2
Tconc
200 27.1

Tconc [C]
27
150
26.9

100 26.8

26.7
50
26.6

0 26.5
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
d [m]

Fig. 8. CPVT thermal and electrical efficiency vs channel diameter. Fig. 10. CPVT temperatures vs channel diameter.

powers, shown in Figs. 5 and 7. Finally, it is also noteworthy to A further design parameter is the area of the concentrator, Aconc,
mention that the decrease of outlet temperature shown in Fig. 7 is directly affecting the concentration ratio. The area of the concen-
absolutely similar to the one of the useful heat shown in also Fig. 6. trator significantly affects both thermal and electrical efficiencies,
However, the decrease of fluid outlet temperature is not clearly as shown in Fig. 11, whereas the variation of the heat exchange
displayed due to the large range of the scale of y-axis of Fig. 7. In effectiveness is negligible. The higher the concentrator area, the
summary, from this parametric analysis, using the global efficiency higher the radiative energy incident on the receiver, linearly
as objective function, it could be concluded that the optimal length increasing also thermal and electrical energy flows (Fig. 12). Simi-
of the square receiver is around 0.40 m. larly, the increase of such radiative flows also determines a general
The selection of the diameter of the fluid channel is an addi- increase of all the temperatures of the receiver (Fig. 13). However,
tional key point for an optimal design of the CPVT under investi- the effect of the increase of the concentration ratio is dominant
gation. Theoretically, an increase of the diameter of the fluid over the increase of the PVT temperature. As a consequence, the
channel determines a decrease of the velocity of the fluid. As a overall result is a slight increase of PVT electrical efficiency. Finally,
consequence, the heat transfer coefficient also decreases deter- as expected, Fig. 11 also shows that an increase in the concentration
mining the consequent decrease of the heat exchange effective- ratio also determines a general improvement of the thermal effi-
ness. Note also that, according to the design procedure discussed ciency of the PVT.
in the previous section, an increase of the diameter of the fluid A possible alternative to the CPVT layout discussed in this paper
channel also determines a decrease of the heat exchange area. may consist in a reduction of the thermal insulation of the top
These theoretical results are also clearly shown by the parametric surface of the receiver improving the radiative heat absorbed by the
analysis displayed in Figs. 8e10. In particular, Fig. 8 clearly shows top surface. In other words, the following parametric analysis aims
that an increase of the diameter determines a dramatic decrease of at evaluating if a reduction of the insulation (and a consequent
the heat exchange effectiveness. Therefore, the lower the heat increase of heat losses) is compensated by an increase of the
exchange effectiveness, the lower the heat removed by the fluid. radiative heat absorbed from the top surface. To this scope an
As a consequence, the temperatures of the receiver layers also absorbent top surface (a ¼ 0.90) was taken into account. This
increase, as clearly shown in Fig. 10. This increase determines the arrangement could increase thermal losses but would also increase
reduction of the electrical efficiency shown in Fig. 8. Similarly, the the radiative heat absorbed by that surface. In order to analyze this
increase of receiver operating temperature also determines a possibility, the top thermal resistance was varied in a very wide
subsequent raise of both convective and radiative losses, as shown range, whose lower bound could be representative of no insulation,
in Fig. 9. whereas the upper bound is achieved only in case of good thermal

9000
Itop, Qconv,top, Qconv,PVT, Qrad,top, Qrad,PVT [kJ/h]

1200

Qrad,PVT Qu I PVT 8000

1000 Qconv,PVT
Qconv,top PPVT
7000
I top Qrad,top
IPVT, PPVT, Qu [kJ/h]

800
6000

600 5000

4000
400
3000
200
2000

0 1000
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
d [m]

Fig. 9. CPVT electrical and thermal power vs channel diameter. Fig. 11. CPVT thermal and electrical efficiency vs concentrator area.
68 A. Buonomano et al. / Energy 61 (2013) 59e71

16000 9000
Itop, Qconv,top, Qconv,PVT, Qrad,top, Qrad,PVT [kJ/h]

Itop, Qconv,top, Qconv,PVT, Qrad,top, Qrad,PVT [kJ/h]

1000 750
Qconv,top Qrad,top
Qrad,PVT IPVT 14000 8000
PPVT Qconv,PVT

IPVT, PPVT, Qu [kJ/h]

Qrad,PVT Qconv,PVT

IPVT, PPVT, Qu [kJ/h]

12000 Qrad,top
750 Qu Itop
I PVT 7000
Qu PPVT
500
10000 Qconv,top Itop
6000
500 8000
5000
6000
250
4000 4000
250

2000 3000

0 0 0 2000
5 10 15 20 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
2
Aconc [m ]
rtop [(m2*C)/W]
Fig. 12. CPVT electrical and thermal power vs concentrator area.
Fig. 15. CPVT electrical and thermal power vs top thermal resistance.

250 28.5
200 26.66

26.66
28.1
Ttop, To, Tsub, TPVT [C]

200

Ttop, To, Tsub, TPVT [C]

26.66

160 26.65
Tconc [C]

150 27.7

Tconc [C]
Tconc TPVT Tsub 26.65
Tsub TPVT Tconc
To Ttop 27.3 26.65
100
To Ttop
120 26.65

50 26.9 26.65

26.64
0 26.5
80 26.64
5 10 15 20
2 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Aconc [m ]
rtop [(m2*C)/W]
Fig. 13. CPVT temperatures vs concentrator area.
Fig. 16. CPVT temperatures vs top thermal resistance.

insulation. The results of this analysis showed that both thermal

increase of top temperature, being marginal the temperature
efficiency and thermal power slightly increase with higher insu-
gradient in the metallic substrate. A higher insulation inhibits the
lation (Figs. 14 and 15). Conversely, the variations of electrical ef-
heat transfer from top surface to the cooling fluid, determining only
ficiency and electrical power are marginal (Figs. 14 and 15). This is
an increase of the top surface temperature. As a consequence,
due to the fact that an increase of top insulation determines a
increasing the insulation, the fluid is not capable to absorb the
dramatic increase of top surface temperature (Fig. 16) whereas the
radiative heat coming from the top surface. This results in a slight
temperatures of the remaining layers of the CPVT do not signifi-
decrease of electrical efficiency shown in Fig. 14. Therefore, the
cantly vary (Fig. 16 shows only a slight decrease). In fact, the higher
results of this study would suggest that, for the boundary condi-
the top resistance, the higher the temperature difference between
tions assumed in this study, the option of insulating the top surface
the metallic substrate and the top surface. As consequence, an in-
is extremely profitable for the layout under investigation. The same
crease in top thermal resistance determines a corresponding
results are also achieved for different values of radiation and

Fig. 14. CPVT thermal and electrical efficiency vs top thermal resistance. Fig. 17. CPVT thermal and electrical efficiency vs inlet temperature.
 A. Buonomano et al. / Energy 61 (2013) 59e71 69

Itop, Qconv,top, Qconv,PVT, Qrad,top, Qrad,PVT [kJ/h]

Itop, Qconv,top, Qconv,PVT, Qrad,top, Qrad,PVT [kJ/h]

1000 9000 800

12000

IPVT PPVT Qrad,PVT 8000

800 600
Itop Qconv,PVT Qu

IPVT, PPVT, Qu [kJ/h]

7000 9000

IPVT, PPVT, Qu [kJ/h]

Qconv,top Qrad,top Itop
Qrad,PVT Qconv,top Qu
600 6000 400
Qrad,top PPVT IPVT
Qconv,PVT 6000
5000
400 200

4000
3000
200 0
3000

0 2000 -200 0
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 200 400 600 800 1000
Ti [C] Ib=Itot [W/m2]
Fig. 18. CPVT electrical and thermal power vs inlet temperature. Fig. 21. CPVT electrical and thermal power vs total radiation.

250 27.2
Ttop 200 27
To
27 26.8
Ttop, To, Tsub, TPVT [C]

200 Tsub
160

Ttop, To, Tsub, TPVT [C]

TPVT 26.6
26.8
Tconc Ttop
150
Tconc [C]

26.4
120 To
26.6

Tconc [C]
Tsub 26.2
100 TPVT
26.4 80 Tconc 26

50 25.8
26.2
40
25.6
0 26
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 0 25.4
Ti [C] 200 400 600 800 1000
Ib=Itot [W/m2]
Fig. 19. CPVT temperatures vs inlet temperature.
Fig. 22. CPVT temperatures vs total radiation.

absorptance of the top surface. The trend may change only when
the inlet fluid temperature significantly decreases (below 80
C). the heat exchange effectiveness variation is negligible. Similarly,
Typically, the variation of the performance of the CPVT as a the higher the fluid inlet temperature is, the lower both thermal
function of the environmental and boundary conditions is related and electrical powers are (Fig. 18). In fact, an increase of the inlet
to the parameter shown in Eq. (28), which includes all the fluid temperature determines a global increase of all the CPVT
boundary/environmental conditions simultaneously. However, it is temperatures (Fig. 19). Note also that the increase of outlet tem-
also useful to analyze the performance of the system as a function perature is not strictly proportional to the increase of inlet tem-
of all the environmental/boundary parameters separately. Probably, perature, due to the simultaneous decrease of the thermal
the most important parameter is the fluid inlet temperature. In fact, efficiency of the CPVT. Higher PVT temperatures determine lower
an increase of this temperature determines a dramatic drop of both values of the electrical efficiency. Similarly, the higher PVT and top
electrical and thermal efficiencies, as shown in Fig. 17. Conversely, surface temperatures are, the higher both convective and radiative
losses are, as clearly shown in Fig. 18. Therefore, it may be
concluded that the fluid mean temperature is probably the most
important design parameter for the system under investigation. It
should be as low as possible, compatibly with constraints deman-
ded by the final user. It should also be pointed out that the use of
the selected CPVT system for high-temperature applications (e.g.
Solar Cooling) is possible, but it should be taken into account that in
this case a dramatic reduction of both thermal and electrical effi-
ciencies would be achieved.
Conversely, the overall performance of the system is scarcely
sensitive to the variations of ambient temperature, but this analysis
is here omitted for brevity.
Finally, the parametric analysis also includes the variation of
both beam and total radiation, assuming Ib ¼ Itot, evaluating the its
corresponding effect on the performance of the CPVT. In particular,
Fig. 20 shows that both electrical and thermal efficiencies decrease
when the radiation increases. The drop of the decrease of the
Fig. 20. CPVT thermal and electrical efficiency vs total radiation. thermal efficiency is very high whereas the variation of electrical
70 A. Buonomano et al. / Energy 61 (2013) 59e71
efficiency is marginal. In fact, the higher the radiation, the higher
both radiative and convective losses (Fig. 21) mainly as a conse-
quence of the increase of the CPVT operating temperature (Fig. 22).
In other words, when the radiation is scarce, the increase in fluid
temperature is very low. The useful energy is even negative when
the radiation is below 50 W/m2. In this case, the fluid outlet tem-
perature is lower than the inlet one. This analysis shows that the
performance of the CPVT is extremely dependent on the available
(specially beam) radiation. Therefore, the use of such technology is
profitable only for those climates where the availability of beam
radiation is particularly high.
4. Conclusions
The results of the case study presented prove the technical
feasibility of the novel concentrating parabolic dish PVT solar col-
lector based on triple-junction technology. The system is specially
designed for the operation at high temperature, so that it can be
integrated in Solar Heating and Cooling Systems equipped with
double-effect absorption chillers. Results showed that both thermal
and electrical efficiencies are very high for a wide range of oper-
ating conditions, according to Kribus et al. [28]. Results also show
that the electrical efficiency scarcely depends on the incident beam
radiation and it ranges from 19% to 25% for the considered oper-
ating coolant temperatures. The thermal optical efficiency is
slightly lower than 60% and it is stably positive even for high fluid
operating temperatures and/or low ambient temperature and beam
radiation. From this point of view, the electrical efficiency decrease
due to high coolant temperatures is mostly recovered as thermal
energy. Such result implies that the CPVT under investigation can
operate in conditions in which the majority of non-concentrating
PVT system would not produce any useful thermal heat. In addition,
the dish CPVT collector investigated in this work showed electrical
and thermal efficiencies higher than the ones reported by parabolic
trough photovoltaic/thermal collectors [29,33,42]. Such CPVT
remarkable results are both due to the use of triple-junction PV
cells, which allows one to achieve high electrical efficiency even for
high operating temperature, and to the utilization of a double axis
tracking system. The investigated system is particularly sensitive to
the available beam radiation since both thermal and electrical ef-
ficiencies dramatically decrease for low beam insolation. Therefore,
the results of the model suggest that this kind of device can be
profitably adopted for the locations in which the average beam
radiation is sufficiently high.
The analysis is based on a robust simulation model consisting
energy and mass balances validated using experimental data. This
model can be used to design and optimize the system. In particular,
the model can be used in order to detect the optimal values of some
of the main design parameters. Results of the parametric analysis
suggested a length of the receiver around 0.40 m. Similarly, the
parametric analysis also showed that the option of insulating the
top surface is favourable with respect to the possibility of using
absorptive surface.
On the other hand, it must be pointed out that the system
investigated in this study is very expensive due to the use of triple-
junction PV cells. Therefore, the use of this technology is presently
scarcely profitable from an economic point of view. However, a
possible market penetration of this technology would make this
CPVT an excellent system for providing electricity and heat for
several applications, such as: industry, residential, solar heating
and cooling, integration in ORC cycles, etc.
In the Section 2 of this paper a specific application of this system
will be investigated, i.e. the integration of the CPVT in a Solar
Heating and Cooling systems providing space heating, space cool-
ing, domestic hot water and electricity to the user.
Acknowledgements
We wish to gratefully acknowledge Professor David Faiman for
his precious support to Dr. Annamaria Buonomano in her ther-
modynamic studies concerning CPVT systems during her stay at
Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of
the Negev, Israel.
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