Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Experimental study of an indirect-expansion heat pump system based

on solar low-concentrating photovoltaic/thermal collectors
Yang Liu , Heng Zhang *, Haiping Chen
School of Energy, Power and Mechanical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

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

Article history: In the present study, a novel low-concentrating photovoltaic/thermal solar assisted water source heat
Received 7 March 2020 pump (LCPV/T-WWHP) system is developed to satisfy both electricity and thermal demand of a uni-
Received in revised form versity building. This system comprises of low-concentrating photovoltaic/thermal (LCPV/T) modules, a
6 May 2020
water-to-water heat pump (WWHP), storage tanks, and capillary network. The performance of this
Accepted 17 May 2020
system is theoretically investigated by the mathematical model of exergy. Conclusion can be drawn from
Available online 21 May 2020
the experiment that the tracking radiation and the inlet temperature of the evaporator play a crucial role
of the system. The maximum electrical efficiency is 15.2%, with an average of 9.4%. In addition, the
Keywords:
LCPV/T system
maximum thermal efficiency is 86.7%, with an average of 54.8%. The WWHP operates stably, with the
WWHP system coefficient of performance greater than 4. The exergy efficiency of LCPV/T and the WWHP system are
Energy analysis 11.8% and 73%, respectively. Consequently, the combination of LCPV/T and WWHP system can not only
Exergy analysis improve the performance of each subsystem, but also provides a new proposal to popularize such a
system in remote regions or reconstruction project in rural districts.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The energy issues have been occupying a central place in in-
ternational concerns. The extensive consumption of fossil fuel has
caused a shortage of resources and environmental pollution [1].
The development of human society has imbalanced the ecological
equilibrium of the earth. This issue has potential to be solved by
introducing renewable energy for instance the solar energy which
is the most crucial and fundamental renewable energy source in
nature. Besides, solar energy technologies provide an abundant,
clean, and renewable energy source and are essential components
of a sustainable energy [2,3].
Since the developing economies around the world demand
more power for space heating and cooling, lighting and electrical
appliances, the amount of energy used within buildings is
expanding [4]. In China, the residential electricity consumption has
rapidly increased by 0.2% from a year earlier. With the gradual
implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, the reform of
the electrical network in the rural area will further deepen. The
living electricity consumption of rural residents will grow at a fast
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhangchongheng@ncepu.edu.cn (H. Zhang).
pace in the coming years. The growth rate of electricity consump-
tion in rural regions will gradually exceed compared to that in the
urban region [5]. Therefore, energy reform in the rural area is the
focus of current research in China. The establishment of a distrib-
uted energy system in remote areas far from the power grid is of
significance for solving the demand for electricity in rural areas in
China.
As a result, a massive number of researches focused on the
development and popularization of a system that can provide users
of electricity, thermal, and even cooling energy simultaneously
[6,7]. This section mainly introduces the combination of solar en-
ergy and heat pump, which is the typical system used to satisfy the
demand of electricity and thermal energy. According to the inte-
gration mode, solar energy assisted heat pumps are classified into
direct expansion solar energy assisted heat pump (DX-SAHP) and
indirect expansion solar energy assisted heat pump (IDX-SAHP) [8].
In simpler terms, the difference between these two systems is
whether the solar collector acts as the evaporator of the heat pump
[9]. Firstly, the research progress of the DX-SAHP system is
reviewed. Chow et al. [10] studied the most classic DX-SAHP system
mode: the solar collector was used as the evaporator, and the water
tank acted as the condenser. Another study conducted by Kuang
et al. [11] that applied an air heat exchanger as the auxiliary device.
This was a multi-functional system for domestic hot water, heating,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.05.090
0960-1481/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Y. Liu et al. / Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730
Nomenclature
Qth Produced thermal energy of LCPV/T system (W)
EPV Produced electrical energy of the LCPV/T system (W)
Qe absorbed heat of the evaporator (W)
Qc heat output of the condenser (W)
hth thermal efficiency
he electrical efficiency
hoverall overall efficiency
TL,in inlet temperature of the coolant water (
C)
Tl,out outlet temperature of the coolant water (
C)
Te,in inlet temperature of the evaporator (
C)
Te,out outlet temperature of the evaporator (
C)
Tc,in inlet temperature of the condenser (
C)
Tc,out outlet temperature of the condenser (
C)
T0 dead state temperature (
C)
Tsun sun temperature (
C)
WHP transient power consumption of the heat pump (W)
ExQL exergy rate of the WWHP’s absorbed heat (W)
ExQH exergy rate of the WWHP’s heat output (W)
Exin input exergy (W)
cooling. In addition, Dikici et al. [12] experimental investigated the
thermal performance of the DX-SAHP system. The results showed
that the coefficient of performance (COP) of the system was 3.08.
Besides, the exergy efficiency of the components in the SAHP sys-
tem was calculated. Intriguingly, a DX-SAHP system based on a new
photovoltaic/thermal was proposed by Xu et al. [13]. The authors
concluded that this system can fulfill the electricity and heat de-
mand throughout one year.
Although the DX-SAHP systems have shown promising perfor-
mance as mentioned above, the system is uneconomical because of
the long distance pipeline connection [14]. Besides, since the fluc-
tuation of solar radiation, liquid refrigerant may remain at the
outlet of the evaporator that may cause the leakage of the refrig-
erant, which poses a threat to the environment and the safety of
users. The application and promotion of DX-SAHP systems is
limited by the above factors [15].Consequently, another system
called IDX-SAHP has an advantage in investment and security [16].
In recent years, with the evolution of the solar photovoltaic
thermal technology, the IDX-SAHP system which based on PV/T
collector has been increasingly more attention. The integration of
PV cells and heat collectors forms the photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T)
system produced electricity and heat, simultaneously [17]. In 2012,
Bai et al. [18]theoretical analyzed the performance of the PV/T-
SAHP system in the TRNSYS environment. The COP of this system
was up to 4.1, while the energy saving was 67%. Then, a hybrid PV/T
and air dual heat pump system was established by Wang et al. in
2015 [19]. The experimental results showed that the electrical ef-
ficiency and thermal efficiency of PV/T were in a superior value of
14.5% and 36.02%, while the COP was not extreme. A similar liter-
ature was presented by Deng et al. [20] in 2016, the system per-
formance has a promotion at low solar radiation. In addition, Calise
et al. [21] proposed a dynamic model using TRNSYS software and
made a thermo-economic analysis of a PV/T poly-generation sys-
tem in the same year. This study provides a crucial guidance of
design and economic evaluation for integrated solar energy sys-
tems. Furthermore, in 2018, Kim et al. proposed a solar-assisted
heat pump system based on a novel hybrid solar collector, and its
COP improved by 5.1% compared to that of the conventional flat
plate solar collector [22].
Recently, in 2019, a considerable literature has grown up around
719
Exout output exergy (W)
APV area of PV cell (m2)
Um voltage (V)
Im current (A)
G tracking radiation intensity (W/m2)
C Concentration ratio
mL Flow of the coolant water (m3/h)
mc Flow of the condenser(m3/h)
me Flow of the evaporator (m3/h)
~
n density of water (kg/m3)
c specific heat capacity of the water (J/(kg$
C)
hex,L exergy efficiency of the LCPV/T module
hex,H exergy efficiency of the WWHP system
COPHP coefficient of performance of the WWHP
Exsolar,in Solar radiation exergy (W)
Exd,L destruction exergy of the LCPV/T system (W)
EX,th thermal exergy of the coolant water (W)
EX,PV electrical exergy of the PV cells (W)
EX,PVT photovoltaic thermal exergy (W)
Exd,H destruction exergy of the WWHP system (W)
IP improvement potential (W)
the theme of IDX-SAHP system based on PV/T collector. The TRNSYS
software was also used by Huan et al. [23] to simulate the dynamic
characteristics on the IDX-SAHP system in serial and parallel
models at Xi’an district. From this report, it is clear that the per-
formance of serial model is better than parallel model in winter.
Obalanlege et al. [24] presented a comparative study of an IDX-
SAHP system, including PV/T collector and water-to-water heat
pump. The paper concerned the variation on two parameters: flow
rate and water tank volume, that directly affected the COP of the
IDX-SAHP system. Moreover, a theoretical model of a SAHP system
based on mini channel PV/T collector was proposed by Zhou et al.
[25]. Besides, authors validated the accuracy of the model through
experimental research. A similar approach was also used by Amo
et al. [26], simulated by TRNSYS and verified by an experiment. A
more comprehensive energy analysis of the IDX-SAHP system
based on PV/T collectors was reported by Vallati et al. [17]. This
study made a major contribution to show that the payback period
of the SAHP system was about six years.
In summary, the COP and energy efficiency of the SAHP system
are the emphases in the previous literatures mentioned above.
Accordingly, there remains a need for exergy analysis, economic
analysis [27,28]. In particular, the integrated application study on
low concentrating PV/T had been a largely under explored domain.
In contrast to these studies, our study focuses on an IDX-SAHP
system based on low-concentrating photovoltaic/thermal (LCPV/
T) system. The main innovations of this study are as follows:
1. Firstly, differently from the majority of the studies available in
literature, this work presents and established an experimental
system consist of LCPV/T and WWHP both for electrical and heat
energy.
2. In addition, not only energy method but also exergy method is
employed to analyze the performance of the LCPV/T-WWHP
system. The aim of this research is to improve both the effi-
ciency of LCPV/T and WWHP system according to the combi-
nation of above two subsystems. This paper provides a new
proposal to popularize such a system in remote regions or
reconstruction project in rural districts.
720 Y. Liu et al. / Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730
2. System design and components
The experiment of the LCPV/T-WWHP system was carried out in
a university laboratory as a prototype. The volume of this laboratory
is 92 m3. The schematic diagram of the experimental system is
manifested in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 shows two operational loops of heating
system: loop 1 and loop 2, used red and black arrows to indicate the
running sequence, respectively. The combination of LCPV/T and
WWHP for heating is shown in loop 1. This system is composed of
four subsystems: the LCPV/T system with two storage tanks; the
WWHP system; the capillary radiant heating system, and the data
testing system. In this loop, the LCPV/T and WWHP are integrated in
series, and the LCPV/T system acts as the thermal source of the
WWHP system. The electrical energy is generated by PV cells,
stored in the battery units. In addition, the thermal energy is
collected from the coolant water of the LCPV/T system. Since this
system employs the low concentrating device, as the solar radiation
increases, the temperature of the PV cells increases significantly.
Therefore, the coolant water absorbs the thermal energy of the PV
cells, so that the surface temperature of the PV cells decreases. Two
storage tanks are adopted in the LCPV/T system. One is the hot
water tank specially designed to collect the coolant water through
the LCPV/T system. Another named cold water storage tank is
located after the WWHP system to store the cold water absorbed
heat by the WWHP. Furthermore, in loop 2, the higher temperature
coolant water which absorbed heat of the LCPV/T system direct
flows into the experimental room. In this paper, loop 2 is not the
focus of our study and loop 1 pattern is explained in detail.
Fig. 1. Simplified layout of the low-concentrating PV/T-WWHP system.
2.1. LCPV/T system
The LCPV/T system which is designed and packaged by our
research group [29] includes two parallel LCPV/T subsystems. The
prototype of the LCPV/T system was established on the roof of a
university, Beijing, China (40
090 3300 N, 116
3104700 E). One LCPV/T
subsystem consists of four modules, and another has three mod-
ules. Moreover, 10 monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells
with a side length of 0.156 m make up a module, and nominal
power of PV cell is 50 W which tested under standard test condi-
tions with no concentration and sections. The concentration ratio
and the reflectivity of the mirror are 4 and 0.88, respectively.
The modules are covered by the upper and lower glass plates,
and the aluminum cooling channels are close to the lower glass
plate. In the LCPV/T system, the electricity is generated by the PV
cells, and at the same time, the thermal energy is produced by the
coolant water absorbed heat from the PV cells flowing through
aluminum cooling channels. Water is used as the coolant in this
study. The electricity is stored in the battery units, and the coolant
water is in the storage tanks. The detailed design parameters of the
LCPV/T system are taken from the literature [30]and are not listed
here because of space restriction.
The hot and cold water storage tanks are made of stainless steel
with a volume capacity of 1000 L. The hot water tank has a
compartment inside, and the insulation layer is added to the
compartment. Fig. 2-a and 2-b show the photographs of the LCPV/T
modules and water tank, respectively.
 Y. Liu et al. / Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730 721

Fig. 2. a) LCPV/T modules, b) Water tank, c) Heat pump, d) Plate heat exchanger, e) Capillary net.

2.2. WWHP system 2.3. Capillary radiant heating system

As demonstrated in Fig. 2-c, a conventional compression water- In this experiment, the terminal heat dissipation device uses a
to-water heat pump (WWHP) is chosen in this system. It consists of capillary net, as shown in Fig. 2-e. The capillary net reduces the
an evaporator, a compressor, a four-way valve, a pump, a plate heat energy consumption and improves comfort conditions. The capil-
exchanger, which acts as the condenser, as shown in Fig. 2-d. The lary net makes a fantabulous match with the use of low-
WWHP and the LCPV/T system are connected in series, that the concentrating solar PV/T technology because of its low tempera-
later acts as the heat source of the former. The main parameters of ture thermal requirement. Furthermore, the choice of capillary net
the WWHP system are summarized in Table 1. in this system adds a benefit to the LCPV/T-WWHP system. The
The WWHP operating in the traditional mode has strict water capillary radiant system has an area of 33 m2 installed in the
quality and water quantity requirements. Therefore, the district sidewall of the experimental room.
where the WWHP is selected needs sufficient water quantity,
limiting the application of the WWHP. Nevertheless, in this LCPV/T-
WWHP system, the coolant water of the LCPV/T modules is 2.4. Data testing system
continuously heated and acts as a thermal source of the evaporator.
Consequently, this system can realize closed circulation and elim- A biaxial solar tracking system is used in the LCPV/T system. The
inate the restriction on the amount of water, simultaneously total radiometer device is installed on the LCPV/T module to track
improving the performance of the WWHP system to a significant the solar radiation intensity in real time. The electrical energy is
extent. produced by the PV cells, and then output by the maximum power
point tracking (MPPT) machine which enables the lead-acid battery
of maximum power output charged. The lead-acid battery is pro-
duced by Matsushita Electric Co., Ltd (LC-P12100). The rated charge
Table 1
Description of the WWHP system main component parameters. and discharge voltage and the capacity are DC 12V and 1 kW h,
respectively. The electrical energy stored in the battery can be
Parameters Value Unit
continuously supplied for daytime lighting. The collected temper-
Rated voltage 220 V ature, irradiation and flow data of the whole system are uploaded
Rated water flow 1.4 m3/h
to the computer through the data acquisition module of Advantech
Rated heating power 2390 W
Rated heating capacity 8400 W (China) Technology Co. Ltd. In order to record and analyze the
Rated hot water capacity 180 L/h experimental data, all the data are recorded automatically with an
Refrigerant R22 interval of 5 s in the data acquisition system. The above data testing
Refrigerant charge 1.86 m3/h components in the LCPV/T-WWHP system are illustrated in Fig. 3.
COP 3.51
The temperature and the flow in the system are measured using
722 Y. Liu et al. / Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730

Fig. 3. a) Total radiometer, b) MPPT module, c) Acquisition module, d) Lead-acid battery.

a thermocouple and a rotameter flowmeter. The flow is controlled

by the electronic valve showed in Fig. 4. The basic information of
the data testing system is reported in Refs. [31].

3. System thermodynamic model

3.1. Energy analysis

A thermodynamic performance evaluation of the proposed

LCPV/T-WWHP system is implemented in this section. It is assumed
that the processes are steady state with negligible potential and
kinetic energy effects and no chemical reactions. Furthermore, the
balance equations of energy and exergy are applied to find out the
regularity of energy transfer and loss.

3.1.1. LCPV/T system

Energy analysis is a traditional method based primarily on the
first law of thermodynamics. This method can evaluate how the
energy is consumed, and then determine more effective usage of a
system. The energy and efficiency of the LCPV/T system are calcu-
lated as [31,32]:

EPV ¼ Um *Im (1)

where EPV (W) denotes the electrical energy produced by the low-
concentrating PV/T system, Um (V) is the voltage, and Im (A) rep-
resents the current of PV cells.
·

Qth ¼ V L rc TL;out  TL;in (2)

where Qth (W) denotes the thermal

Fig. 4. The flow meter and electronic valve.
·
energy produced by the low-
concentrating PV/T system, V L (m3/h) is the volume flow of the
LCPV/T system, r (kg/m3) is the water density, c (J/(kg$
C)) is the
specific heat capacity, and TL;in (
C) and TL;out (
C) are the temper-
ature of coolant water. Note that, the subscript L stands for the low-
 Y. Liu et al. / Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730 723

concentrating PV/T system, and subscript in and out represent inlet radiation), outlet, and destruction exergy rate of the LCPV/T system,
and outlet, respectively. severally. Moreover,
·
in the· LCPV/T system, the outlet exergy is
composed of E xth (W) and E xPV (W), which are thermal exergy and
EPV Um *Im electrical exergy of the PV cells, respectively.
he ¼ ¼ (3)
CGAPV CGAPV In addition, the inlet exergy still is radiation exergy to the solar
and can be written as [35].
·

Qth V L rc TL;out  TL;in "    #
hth ¼ ¼ (4) · · · 1 T0 4 4 T0
CGAPV CGAPV E xin ¼ E xsolar;in ¼ E nsolar;in 1 þ  (11)
3 Tsun 3 Tsun

hoverall ¼ he þ hth (5)

With
where he , hth , hoverall are the electrical, thermal, and total efficiency, ·
respectively. C denotes the concentrating ratio, which equal to 4 in Ensolar;in ¼ APV CG
this study, G is the solar radiation(W/m2), and APV represents the
area (m2), subscript PV stands for of the photovoltaic cells. where Tsun (K) is the sun temperature, and T0 (K) denotes the dead
state temperature which commonly equal to ambient temperature
3.1.2. WWHP system [36].
In the WWHP system, the transient heat available to circulating The exergy rate of the LCPV/T system is given by
water of the evaporator, Qe (W), is determined by: · · ·
ExPVT ¼ Exth þ ExPV (12)
·

Qe ¼ V e rc Te;in  Te;out (6)
where ·
exergy of the coolant water
·
available from the LCPV/T sys-
·
3
where V e (m /h) is the volume flow of the evaporator, Te;in and tem E xth is given by Eq. (13). ExPV is the electrical exergy of the PV
Te;out denote the inlet and outlet water temperature of the evapo- cells.
rator (
C). In addition, the transient heat available to circulating ·
 
T0
water of the condenser, Qc (W), is determined by: E xth ¼ Qth 1  (13)
TL;out þ 273:15
·

Qc ¼ V c rc Tc;out  Tc;in (7)  "  #
· 1 T0 4 4 T0
ExPV ¼ he APV GC 1 þ  (14)
where Tc;in (
C) and· Tc;out (
C) are the inlet and outlet temperature, 3 Tsun 3 Tsun
respectively, and V c (m3/h) denotes the volume flow rate, the
subscript c stands for the condenser. The exergy efficiency and exergetic improvement potential (IP)
The coefficient of performance (COP) is an essential indicator of are two crucial indicators to evaluate the performance of the LCPV/
the WWHP system. The transient value of the WWHP’s COP is T system, which are expressed by Eqs. (15) and (16), respectively
evaluated using Eq. (8). [37].
·
Qc Qc Exd;L
COPHP ¼ ¼ (8) hex;L ¼ 1  (15)
WHP Qc  Qe ·
Exin
where WHP (W) is the transient power consumption of the
compressor.
·
IPL ¼ 1  hex;L Exd;L (16)

3.2. Exergy analysis

As compared with energy analysis, the exergy analysis is based

on the second law of thermodynamics. Exergy is defined as “the 3.2.2. Exergetic analysis of the WWHP system
measurement of the maximum useful work that can be produced In this section, the steady state exergy equations of the WWHP
by a system during a process that brings the system into equilib- system are expressed as follows:
rium with its environment at constant pressure (P0) and temper- X
ature (T0)” [33]. In this section, chemical exergy, potential exergy, ExQL þ WHP ¼ ExQH þ Exd;H (17)
and kinetic exergy are neglected because of the LCPV/T-WWHP
system is assumed to be operating under the steady-state condi- where
tion [12].  
T0
ExQL ¼ 1  Qe (18)
3.2.1. Exergetic analysis of the LCPV/T system T1 þ 273:15
Frequently, the steady state exergy equation consists of three  
section, the equations of LCPV/T system are given as follows [34]: T0
ExQH ¼ 1  Qc (19)
X · X · X ·
T2 þ 273:15
E xin  E xout ¼ E xd;L (9)
where ExQL (W) and ExQH (W) are the exergy rate of the WWHP’s
P
X · X · · X · absorbed heat and heat output, respectively; Exd;H (W) is the
E xin  ðE xth þ E xPV Þ ¼ E xd;L (10) WWHP system’s exergy destruction in summary; T1 (
C) represents
· · ·
the average inlet and outlet temperature of the evaporator; T2 (
C)
where E xin (W), E xout (W), and E xd;L (W) denote the inlet (solar is the average inlet and outlet temperature of the condenser.
724
Meanwhile, the evaluation indicators and IP of the WWHP
system are defined as follows:
ExQH  ExQL
hex;H ¼
WHP

·
IPH ¼ 1  hex;H Exd;H
3.3. Experimental uncertainty
To increase the accuracy of experimental results, an uncertainty
analysis was performed in this section. The experimental uncer-
tainty of the electrical efficiency and thermal efficiency are shown
in Eq. (22) and Eq. (23). The description and the explanation in
detail of the uncertainty analysis are reported in Ref. [31].
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u 2  2 
u vh · vhth
Dhth ¼ t
· *DV L *DG þ
th
þ þ
vV vG
L
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2  2 
vhe vhe
Dhe ¼ *DG þ *DUm
vG vUm
4. Results and discussion
Performance characteristics of LCPV/T-WWHP system were
experimentally evaluated at Changping, Beijing. After a month-long
experiment in winter, the data of a typical day was selected to
analyze. Additionally, the experimental uncertainty of thermal ef-
ficiency and electrical efficiency were 10.6% and 0.24%, respectively.
Direct heating mode of the LCPV/T system is not taken into
consideration in this analysis. Actually, in order to investigate the
interaction between LCPV/T and WWHP system, auxiliary heater
isn’t used during the entire experimental study.
The fluctuation of the solar tracking radiation is demonstrated in
Fig. 5, which also includes electrical efficiency, thermal efficiency,
and exergy efficiency of the LCPV/T system. The LCPV/T modules
follow the sun all day long by a solar tracking device, and the
average solar tracking radiation was 991 W/m2. The peak tracking
radiation was up to 1090 W/m2. During 9:45e14:00, tracking ra-
diation intensity stability maintained greater than 1000 W/m2.
Electrical efficiency and thermal efficiency are two crucial index
used to evaluate a PV/T module. The maximum electrical efficiency
reached 15.2% with an average of 9.4%. Theoretically, the electrical
efficiency of PV cell decreases significantly with its temperature
increasing. However, as shown in Fig. 5, the reduction of electrical
efficiency was slight with the reason of the continuously cooling by
the coolant water. The coolant water which absorbed the heat of PV
cells was used as the heat source of the WWHP. After the coolant
water was exothermic, the lower temperature coolant water
continued to flow into the LCPV/T system to cool the PV cells. This
type of connection both improved the performance of the WWHP
and kept the coolant water at a diminished temperature.
In addition, the peak thermal efficiency reached 86.7%, with an
Y. Liu et al. / Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730
average of 54.8%. The thermal efficiency is affected by factors: solar
radiation, flow, WWHP’s on and down, and inlet water tempera-
ture. Fig. 5 also shows the start and stop times of the WWHP:
0 means it was off, and 1 means it was on. Due to the continuous
(20)
operation of the WWHP, thermal efficiency is maintained at a high
and stable value during 12:00 and 13:10. The coolant water at the
outlet of the LCPV/T system absorbed the heat of the PV cells and
(21)
the coolant water temperature rose. Then the coolant water flowed
into the WWHP system as the heat source water. The WWHP sys-
tem absorbed the heat of the heat source water. Subsequently, the
heat source water with a reduced temperature flowed into the
LCPV/T system as the coolant water. Since the lower the inlet
coolant temperature of the LCPV/T system was, the higher the
thermal efficiency was. Consequently, the thermal efficiency with
the state of the WWHP on was superior than the state of the WWHP
turned off.
From Fig. 6, we can observe the fluctuating temperature of the
inlet and outlet coolant water of the LCPV/T system that decreased
!2
2
vhth vhth
*DTw;out *DTw;in
(22)
vTw;out vTw;in
in the time range 9:00e10:30. Combined with the start and stop
times of the WWHP in Fig. 5, when the WWHP was continuous
2
vhe running, the temperature of the inlet coolant water was reduced
þ *DIm (23) after 12:00. Moreover, when the time of the WWHP being on was
vIm
significantly extended after 14:45, Fig. 6 clearly showed that the
energy and the exergy efficiency of the LCPV/T system reached
above 80% and 15%, respectively. Subsequently, both energy and
exergy efficiency of LCPV/T modules were increased when WWHP
was on. In addition, the average energy efficiency reached 64.2%,
the average exergy efficiency was 11.8%. Maximum LCPV/T exergy
efficiency of 18.4% was observed in 15e16.5 p.m., whereas the
minimum value of 12% appeared at 9:00.
In order to exhaustively analyze the regulation of electrical and
thermal efficiency with tracking radiation and inlet water tem-
perature, an efficiency curve was introduced. This curve repre-
sented the specific value of the temperature difference and solar
tracking radiation intensity, that the temperature variation was the
dissimilarity between the temperature of inlet coolant water and
ambient. As shown in Fig. 7, we can obtain the fitting curve of the
thermal and electrical efficiency as a function of the efficiency curve
which defined as (TL,in-T0)/G [6]. Obviously, the electrical efficiency
curve decreased with the increasing of (TL,in-T0)/G. Conversely, the
thermal efficiency curve slightly increased with increasing (TL,in-
T0)/G.
Fig. 8 clearly shows the fluctuation of exergies of the LCPV/T
system: thermal, electrical (PV), PV/T, input and destruction exergy,
as mentioned before. The average electrical exergy was 334W
ranging from 234 to 522 W, while that of thermal exergy was 88W
varied from 249W to 634 W. The former is 74% more than the latter.
The curve shapes of electrical, thermal and PV/T exergy were all
similar to the linear increase with the rise of solar radiation.
Additionally, the average PV/T exergy was 422W ranging from
249W to 634 W.
The destruction and input exergies varied from 2440 to 3476 W
and 2787e3940 W, respectively. The exergies of the LCPV/T system
attenuated with the reducing of solar tracking radiation intensity.
Furthermore, the average destruction exergy of the LCPV/T system
was up to 3166 W. The cause for such a comprehensive destruction
 Y. Liu et al. / Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730 725

Fig. 5. Variations in the tracking radiation, electrical efficiency, thermal efficiency, and exergy efficiency.

Fig. 6. Variations in the inlet and outlet temperature, energy, and exergy efficiency.

exergy was the use of concentrating device. Since the increase of
the electrical and thermal exergy were exceedingly slighter than
the increase of concentrated solar tracking radiation exergy,
consequently, a multitude of input exergy was destructed.
Fig. 9 demonstrates the variation of improvement potential, that
is a key and crucial indicator of the LCPV/T system. The IP was in the
range 2094e3108 W with the average value of 2793 W. It was
observed that the higher the solar tracking radiation was, the more
the IP was, meaning that the more the exergy destruction was. This
was because the heat loss to the surroundings increased as the solar
radiation raised. So, the research should focus more on how to
decrease the exergy destruction. Additionally, these results reveal
that the improvement potential of the LCPV/T system was
extremely prominent.
After the preheating of the coolant water by the solar radiation
through the low-concentrating PV/T modules, the WWHP system
further absorbs the heat of the coolant water for the purpose of
heating the experimental room. The COP of the WWHP system was
calculated under the aforementioned operating conditions, as
demonstrated in Fig. 10. Besides, the temperature difference
726 Y. Liu et al. / Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730

Fig. 7. Fluctuations of the energy efficiency of the LCPV/T system with the ratio (TL,in-T0)/G.

Fig. 8. Variations in the solar tracking radiation and exergies of LCPV/T system.

between the experimental room and the adjacent room which
without heating is manifested in Fig. 10. The maximum outlet
temperature of the condenser was controlled in the range
45e50
C. When the outlet temperature of the condenser reached
the maximum temperature, the WWHP system would be auto-
matically turned off. The peak of the temperature difference
reached above 7
C, with the average value was 3.8
C. Furthermore,
the average COP reached 4, which was higher than the rated COP of
the WWHP. The maximum observed COP was 8.28, an improve-
ment of 35% from the rated one. Consequently, the LCPV/T-WWHP
system can satisfy the thermal requirement of the experimental
room, while significantly ameliorating the performance of the
WWHP system.
Fig. 11 manifests the wall temperature, and inlet and outlet
temperature of the condenser. According to the inlet temperature
of the evaporator and the performance of the WWHP, the outlet
temperature of the condenser can be adjusted. During 9:00e11:00,
the highest outlet temperature of the condenser reached 46
C,
while the highest temperature was 55
C during remain period. The
wall temperature has the same trend as the outlet temperature of
 Y. Liu et al. / Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730 727

and exergy efficiency of the WWHP system is shown in Fig. 12. The
thermal performance of the heat pump is directly proportional to
the inlet water temperature of the evaporator and inversely pro-
portional to the inlet water temperature of the condenser. As the
evaporator inlet temperature enhanced, the exergy efficiency of the
WWHP system also raised with their corresponding average values
being 29
C and 73%, respectively. The average IP was 162 W, up to
1250 W. With the raised inlet temperature of the evaporator, the
overall trend of IP reduced, while the overall trend of exergy effi-
ciency increased.

5. Conclusions

According to the characteristics of LCPV/T system, in this study

an IDX-SAHP system which based on LCPV/T modules and a water-
to-water heat pump is established. The combined operation per-
formance of each subsystem was evaluated by energy and exergy
methods. Eventually, conclusions and future work are summarized
as follows:
Fig. 9. Variations in IP with solar tracking radiation.
(a) In the case of a closed cycle, this system can also continu-
ously absorb the heat of the coolant water by the WWHP for
the condenser. Fig. 11-a shows the inlet temperature of the the purpose of saving water resources while ensuring the
condenser rising from 23
C to 35
C during 9:00e11:00. The other effective controlling the temperature of PV cells. In addition,
three figures show that the inlet temperature of the condenser the maximal electrical efficiency is up to 15.2%, with a mean
stayed in the range 35e43
C during 11:00e17:00. of 9.4%. Besides, the peak thermal efficiency is up to 86.7%,
The relationship of the evaporator inlet temperature with the IP with an average of 54.8%. The average energy efficiency of the
LCPV/T system is 64.2% and the average exergy efficiency is

Fig. 10. Variations in the temperature contrast and the COP.

728 Y. Liu et al. / Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730

Fig. 11. Variations in the wall temperature, and inlet and outlet temperature of the condenser.

Fig. 12. Variations in the IP and exergy efficiency.

 Y. Liu et al. / Renewable Energy 157 (2020) 718e730
11.8%. The PV/T exergy is in the range 249e634 W with the
thermal and electrical exergy in the range 0e240 W and
234e522 W, respectively.
(b) The energy and exergy utilization rate of the WWHP system
are both at a superior level when use LCPV/T as its the heat
source. Moreover, the electricity produced by the LCPV/T
system can also supplement the power consumed by the
WWHP system. The average COP of the WWHP system was 4,
which was higher than the rated one. The average IP of the
heat pump was 162 W, up to 1250 W.
(c) Compared with traditional heating terminal, capillary
network is more suitable for low temperature heating. Ac-
cording to the test data, the peak temperature contrast be-
tween the experimental room and the adjacent room
without heating is 7.9
C.
These data are consistent with the notion that the LCPV/T -
WWHP system can not only satisfy the heating demand of users,
but also save water resources. It provides a novel recommendation
for the development of clean energy transformation projects in
China. Future work should therefore include the exploitation of
auxiliary device for the intention to realize the uninterrupted
operation of the LCPV/T - WWHP system.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Yang Liu: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis,
Investigation, Visualization, Writing - original draft. Heng Zhang:
Methodology, Resources, Software, Validation, Writing - review &
editing. Haiping Chen: Funding acquisition, Project administration,
Supervision.
Acknowledgments
This work is financially supported by China Postdoctoral Science
Foundation(2019M660595), Key Research and Development Pro-
gram of Hebei Province (18214318D), Beijing Municipal Science and
Technology Project (Z151100003515002).
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