Innovative heat dissipation design incorporated into a solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector: An optimization approach based on 9E analysis

•A novel heat dissipation design integrated into a PV/T air collector is presented.•Maximum overall efficiency improvement was 16.53 % compared with a conventional PV/T system.•9E analysis was used as a new methodology to evaluate the PV/T performance.•The economic study reported a maximum net present value of 407.43 $ USD which conducted to final best decision-making. In this research work, an innovative heat dissipation method integrated into a solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector is numerically evaluated with a new methodology based on 9E analysis, which consists of the integration of energetic, exergetic, environmental, economic, energoenvironmental (ENEN), exergoenvironmental (EXEN), enviroeconomic (ENEC), energoenviroeconomic (ENENEC), and exergoenviroeconomic (EXENEC) assessments. The methodology was divided into two parts, in which the first part (part A) consisted of two phases (phase 1 and phase 2) corresponding to a comparative numerical analysis and a parametric study, while the second part (part B) is related to an annual assessment considering different energetic, exergetic, environmental, and economic indicators. The results of phase 1 exhibited that the PV/T with wavy fins presented the best results, with an outlet air of 49.5 °C and a PV panel average temperature of 81.1 °C. Phase 2 revealed that the finned PV/T model with 0.05 m air height channel, 0.0005 m fin thickness, and 15 fins accomplished the most optimal results, where the outlet air was 50.27 °C, and the PV panel average was 80.50 °C. Moreover, part B, related to 9E analysis, revealed that the best results were obtained with the same model as phase 2, where the average thermal and electrical energy production during a year was 1633.18 kWh and 785.44 kWh, respectively. The overall thermal efficiency value was 0.3302, while the exergetic efficiency corresponded to 0.1458. Furthermore, the sustainability index was 1.171, and the life cycle emission value was 84.23 kgCO2-year. The economic indicators reported $ USD 407.43, 14.14 %, 0.0151 $ USD/kWh, and 4.95 years for the net present value, internal rate of return, levelized cost of energy, and payback time, respectively. Finally, the indicators of ENEN, EXEN, ENEC, ENENEC, and EXENEC analyses were 1.1233 kgCO2-year, 0.0896 kgCO2-year, 1.2184 $ USD/year, $ 0.016288 $ USD/year and 0.0012992 $ USD/year, correspondingly. The quantitative results revealed that this system is efficient for its implementation in PV/T air collec