IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v114y2014icp335-352.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dynamic performance of a novel solar photovoltaic/loop-heat-pipe heat pump system

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Xingxing
  • Zhao, Xudong
  • Shen, Jingchun
  • Xu, Jihuan
  • Yu, Xiaotong

Abstract

Objective of the paper is to present an investigation into the dynamic performance of a novel solar photovoltaic/loop-heat-pipe (PV/LHP) heat pump system for potential use in space heating or hot water generation. The methods used include theoretical computer simulation, experimental verification, analysis and comparison. The fundamental equations governing the transient processes of solar transmission, heat transfer, fluid flow and photovoltaic (PV) power generation were appropriately integrated to address the energy balances occurring in different parts of the system, e.g., glazing cover, PV cells, fin sheet, loop heat pipe, heat pump cycle and water tank. A dedicated computer model was developed to resolve the above grouping equations and consequently predict the system’s dynamic performance. An experimental rig was constructed and operated under the real weather conditions for over one week in Shanghai to evaluate the system living performance, which was undertaken by measurement of various operational parameters, e.g., solar radiation, photovoltaic power generation, temperatures and heat pump compressor consumption. On the basis of the first- (energetic) and second- (exergetic) thermodynamic laws, an overall evaluation approach was proposed and applied to conduct both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the PV/LHP module’s efficiency, which involved use of the basic thermal performance coefficient (COPth) and the advanced performance coefficient (COPPV/T) of such a system. Moreover, a simple comparison between the PV/LHP heat-pump system and conventional solar/air energy systems was conducted. The research results indicated that under the testing outdoor conditions, the mean daily electrical, thermal and overall energetic and exergetic efficiencies of the PV/LHP module were 9.13%, 39.25%, 48.37% and 15.02% respectively, and the average values of COPth and COPPV/T were 5.51 and 8.71. The PV/LHP module was found to achieve 3–5% higher solar exergetic efficiency than standard PV systems and about 7% higher overall solar energetic efficiency than the independent solar collector. Compared to the conventional solar/air heat pump systems, the PV/LHP heat pump system could achieve a COP figure that is around 1.5–4 times that for the conventional systems. It is concluded that the computer model is able to achieve a reasonable accuracy in predicting the system’s dynamic performance. The PV/LHP heat pump system is able to harvest significant amount of solar heat and electricity, thus enabling achieving enhanced solar thermal and electrical efficiencies. All these indicate a positive implication that the proposed system has potential to be developed into a high performance PV/T technology that can contribute to significant fossil fuel energy saving and carbon emission.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Xingxing & Zhao, Xudong & Shen, Jingchun & Xu, Jihuan & Yu, Xiaotong, 2014. "Dynamic performance of a novel solar photovoltaic/loop-heat-pipe heat pump system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 335-352.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:114:y:2014:i:c:p:335-352
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.09.063
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261913008106
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.09.063?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Omojaro, Peter & Breitkopf, Cornelia, 2013. "Direct expansion solar assisted heat pumps: A review of applications and recent research," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 33-45.
    2. Chow, T.T. & Pei, G. & Fong, K.F. & Lin, Z. & Chan, A.L.S. & Ji, J., 2009. "Energy and exergy analysis of photovoltaic-thermal collector with and without glass cover," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 310-316, March.
    3. Tonui, J.K. & Tripanagnostopoulos, Y., 2007. "Improved PV/T solar collectors with heat extraction by forced or natural air circulation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 623-637.
    4. Kumar, Rakesh & Rosen, Marc A., 2011. "A critical review of photovoltaic–thermal solar collectors for air heating," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(11), pages 3603-3614.
    5. Amori, Karima E. & Taqi Al-Najjar, Hussein M., 2012. "Analysis of thermal and electrical performance of a hybrid (PV/T) air based solar collector for Iraq," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 384-395.
    6. Jouhara, Hussam & Meskimmon, Richard, 2010. "Experimental investigation of wraparound loop heat pipe heat exchanger used in energy efficient air handling units," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 4592-4599.
    7. Solanki, S.C. & Dubey, Swapnil & Tiwari, Arvind, 2009. "Indoor simulation and testing of photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collectors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(11), pages 2421-2428, November.
    8. Chow, T.T. & Pei, G. & Fong, K.F. & Lin, Z. & Chan, A.L.S. & He, M., 2010. "Modeling and application of direct-expansion solar-assisted heat pump for water heating in subtropical Hong Kong," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 643-649, February.
    9. Zhang, Xingxing & Zhao, Xudong & Xu, Jihuan & Yu, Xiaotong, 2013. "Characterization of a solar photovoltaic/loop-heat-pipe heat pump water heating system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 1229-1245.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael, Jee Joe & S, Iniyan & Goic, Ranko, 2015. "Flat plate solar photovoltaic–thermal (PV/T) systems: A reference guide," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 62-88.
    2. Zhang, Xingxing & Shen, Jingchun & Xu, Peng & Zhao, Xudong & Xu, Ying, 2014. "Socio-economic performance of a novel solar photovoltaic/loop-heat-pipe heat pump water heating system in three different climatic regions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 20-34.
    3. Elbreki, A.M. & Alghoul, M.A. & Al-Shamani, A.N. & Ammar, A.A. & Yegani, Bita & Aboghrara, Alsanossi M. & Rusaln, M.H. & Sopian, K., 2016. "The role of climatic-design-operational parameters on combined PV/T collector performance: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 602-647.
    4. Chen, Hongbing & Zhang, Lei & Jie, Pengfei & Xiong, Yaxuan & Xu, Peng & Zhai, Huixing, 2017. "Performance study of heat-pipe solar photovoltaic/thermal heat pump system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 960-980.
    5. Makki, Adham & Omer, Siddig & Sabir, Hisham, 2015. "Advancements in hybrid photovoltaic systems for enhanced solar cells performance," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 658-684.
    6. Chen, J.F. & Zhang, L. & Dai, Y.J., 2018. "Performance analysis and multi-objective optimization of a hybrid photovoltaic/thermal collector for domestic hot water application," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 500-516.
    7. Hussain, F. & Othman, M.Y.H & Sopian, K. & Yatim, B. & Ruslan, H. & Othman, H., 2013. "Design development and performance evaluation of photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) air base solar collector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 431-441.
    8. Sathe, Tushar M. & Dhoble, A.S., 2017. "A review on recent advancements in photovoltaic thermal techniques," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 645-672.
    9. Hasan, M. Arif & Sumathy, K., 2010. "Photovoltaic thermal module concepts and their performance analysis: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(7), pages 1845-1859, September.
    10. Elbreki, A.M. & Alghoul, M.A. & Sopian, K. & Hussein, T., 2017. "Towards adopting passive heat dissipation approaches for temperature regulation of PV module as a sustainable solution," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 961-1017.
    11. Buker, Mahmut Sami & Riffat, Saffa B., 2015. "Building integrated solar thermal collectors – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 327-346.
    12. Chen, Haiping & Zhang, Heng & Li, Mingjie & Liu, Haowen & Huang, Jiguang, 2018. "Experimental investigation of a novel LCPV/T system with micro-channel heat pipe array," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 773-782.
    13. Yang, Tingting & Athienitis, Andreas K., 2016. "A review of research and developments of building-integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 886-912.
    14. He, Wei & Hong, Xiaoqiang & Zhao, Xudong & Zhang, Xingxing & Shen, Jinchun & Ji, Jie, 2015. "Operational performance of a novel heat pump assisted solar façade loop-heat-pipe water heating system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 371-382.
    15. Lv, Xiaolong & Yan, Gang & Yu, Jianlin, 2015. "Solar-assisted auto-cascade heat pump cycle with zeotropic mixture R32/R290 for small water heaters," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 167-172.
    16. Ulloa, Carlos & Nuñez, José M. & Lin, Chengxian & Rey, Guillermo, 2018. "AHP-based design method of a lightweight, portable and flexible air-based PV-T module for UAV shelter hangars," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 767-780.
    17. Daghigh, R. & Ruslan, M.H. & Sopian, K., 2011. "Advances in liquid based photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) collectors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 4156-4170.
    18. Ma, Tao & Li, Meng & Kazemian, Arash, 2020. "Photovoltaic thermal module and solar thermal collector connected in series to produce electricity and high-grade heat simultaneously," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    19. Jorge E. De León-Ruiz & Ignacio Carvajal-Mariscal, 2018. "Mathematical Thermal Modelling of a Direct-Expansion Solar-Assisted Heat Pump Using Multi-Objective Optimization Based on the Energy Demand," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-27, July.
    20. Saadon, Syamimi & Gaillard, Leon & Menezo, Christophe & Giroux-Julien, Stéphanie, 2020. "Exergy, exergoeconomic and enviroeconomic analysis of a building integrated semi-transparent photovoltaic/thermal (BISTPV/T) by natural ventilation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 981-989.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:114:y:2014:i:c:p:335-352. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.