Evaluation of various collector configurations for a photovoltaic thermal system to achieve high performance, low cost, and lightweight

This study evaluates different collector configurations of a photovoltaic thermal system to identify the most effective design for achieving high electrical and thermal powers, exergy, low-pressure drops, and short payback time. Based on the authors' most recent information, previous studies have identified three gaps in the literature: rare research on the comparison between various collector designs such as grids, serpentine paths, wavy paths, parallel paths, spiral paths, etc.; little research on the distribution of surface temperature and pressure drop for different collector configurations under the same wetted area; and a lack of consideration of the cost and weight of collector and absorber layers for different materials. To address these research gaps, we investigated various collector designs, lengths and materials and analyzed their impact on the system performance. Our findings demonstrate that the photovoltaic thermal system with the multi-path serpentine design is the most effective in terms of overall power, with an average overall power output of 423.84 W/m². Furthermore, the photovoltaic thermal system with aluminum offers the most significant cost efficiency, with a payback time of 2.58 years, and weighs 42% less than the system with copper.