Abstract
Abstract:
Energy regeneration through heat recovery is practically possible for maximizing energy obtained
from
the sun, by recovering and reusing the heat that is typically lost within energy dependent
electrical equipment’s. The study is aimed at developing an efficient and cost effective heat
recovery system, which is an improvement to existing variants. Solar thermal systems utilize flat
plates or evacuated tube collectors which absorb the heat from the sun. Similarly, Photo-Voltaic
(PV) systems absorb solar irradiation to generate electricity. A combination of both technologies
results in Solar Photo-Voltaic Thermal (PV/T) systems wherein thermal plates or liquid contained
tubes cool PV collectors resulting in increased efficiency. The PV cooling mechanism is important
because excessive heat in PV panels generates high resistance, which impedes the performance of the
solar cell and in the process, results in lower efficiency. PV/T systems are currently sold at
relatively high cost and their availability is limited. The study focuses on the development of a
dual heat recovery system for harnessing both the heat build-up on the PV plates and the heat
generated from the heat exchanger exhaust outlet of a solar air- conditioning system, by
incorporating electro-thermal generators and Peltier devices for the optimization process. The
research is sectioned into design, prototype development, and a testing phase. The focus of this
paper is to share the design phase of the project. The design highlighted herein is a cost
effective and highly efficient PV/T model with a different heat absorption approach in comparison
to conventional PV/T systems. The heat recovery system design is complete and is currently
undergoing extensive tests to complete the testing and optimization
phase.