Thermal performances of ETFE cushion roof integrated amorphous silicon photovoltaic. (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hu, Jianhui; Chen, Wujun; Qiu, Zhenyu; Zhao, Bing; Zhou, Jinyu; Qu, Yegao
• Is Part Of: Energy conversion and management. Volume 106(2016)
• Page Start: 1201
• Page End: 1211
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: Amorphous silicon photovoltaic -- ETFE cushion -- Heat transfer coefficient -- Solar energy -- Temperature distribution -- Thermal performance; Direct energy conversion -- Periodicals; Energy storage -- Periodicals; Energy transfer -- Periodicals; Énergie -- Conversion directe -- Périodiques; Direct energy conversion; Periodicals; 621.3105
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enconman.2015.10.008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0196-8904

Abstract

Highlights: Thermal performances of a three layer ETFE cushion integrated a-Si PV is evaluated. Temperature of a-Si PV obviously affects temperature field and temperature boundary. The maximum temperature difference of 3.4 K between measured and numerical results. Main transport mechanisms in upper and lower chambers are convection and conduction. Heat transfer coefficients of this roof are less than those of other ETFE cushion roofs. Abstract: Thermal performances of the ETFE cushion roof integrated amorphous silicon photovoltaic (a-Si PV) are essential to estimate building performances, such as temperature distribution and heat transfer coefficient. To investigate these thermal performances, an experimental mock-up composed of a-Si PV and a three-layer ETFE cushion roof was built and the experiment was carried out under summer sunny condition. Meanwhile, numerical model with real boundary conditions was performed in this paper. The experimental results show that the temperature sequence of the three layers was the middle, top and bottom layer and that the PV temperature caused by solar irradiance was 353.8 K. This gives evidence that the PV has a significant effect on the temperature distribution. The experimental temperature was in good agreement with the corresponding location of the numerical temperature since the maximum temperature difference was only 3.4 K. Therefore, the numerical results were justified and then used to analyze the airflow characteristics and calculate the thermal performances. For the airflow characteristics, it is found that the temperature distribution was not uniform and the main transport mechanisms in the upper and lower chambers formed by the three layers were the convection and conduction, respectively. For the thermal performances, the surface convective heat transfer coefficients were obtained, which have validated that thermal performances of the three-layer ETFE cushion integrated a-Si PV are better than those of conventional ETFE cushion roofs. This study provides a basic understanding of thermal performances, such as the temperature field and heat transfer coefficient; it is useful for calculation and analysis of ETFE cushion roof integrated a-Si PV.