Energy And Exergy Analyses Of Photovoltaic-Thermal (Pv/T) System With Tio2/Water Nanofluid Flow

Nanofluids are a new generation of heat-transfer fluid with higher thermal conductivity and improved heat-transfer rate compared with conventional fluids. In this study, TiO2/water (0.5wt% and 1.0wt% TiO2 in water) nanofluids were used as a coolant to investigate a PV/T system under solar-radiation levels of 700 and 900 W/m2 and mass-flow rate ranging from 0.012 kg/s to 0.0255 kg/s. The TiO2/water nanofluid-based PV/T collector produced PV/T efficiency of approximately 75% to 90% with 9.9% to 10.6% PV efficiency and 65% to 80% thermal efficiency. Meanwhile, the PV/T exergy was between 53 and 73 W with thermal exergy of 6.3 W to 11.9 W and electrical exergy of 46.7 W to 60.1 W.