Effect of fluid mass flux on energy and exergy performance of a glazed hybrid solar photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) collector

Hybrid PV/T collector has aroused widely range of attention among researchers in the last decade, but so far rare analysis of the fluid mass flux that affect the overall performance has been attempted, and less exergetic balance analysis for a hybrid PV/T has been reported. In this paper, a thermal and electrical performance analytical model for a hybrid PV/T collector from the first and second law of thermaldynamic point of view has been built. exergy balance equations for a hybrid PV/T collector have been carried out, and the effect of mass flux on energy and exergy performance has been obtained. By the given design and operation parameters used for the present study, the hybrid PV/T collector operates at critical mass flux (0.002 kg/s center dot m(2)) not only can improve the electrical and thermal efficiency, but also can assure the quality of the output energy. Taking materials consumption, economical and heat transfer performance into consideration, NTU (Number of Transfer Units) should be optimized to critical value.