Improvement of Performances of Solar Photovoltaic/Thermal Air Collector in South Algeria

Hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collectors convert solar energy both into electrical and thermal energy. This conversion firstly allows the cooling of the solar cells and secondly the exploitation of the resulting heat energy to heat water or space. In this paper, we are interested in the PVT hybrid air collector and its application in an arid climate that is the south of Algeria. A new configuration of the absorber has been made for this hybrid collector in the aim to improve its energy performance. The air passage channel has been enlarged by the integration of rectangular metal fins. The results show a clear improvement over conventional hybrid collectors. The electrical performance has also been improved. A theoretical study of modeling and an experimental realization were made. The main results of this work were exposed in this paper.