Enhancement of the performance of Photovoltaic/Trombe wall system using the porous medium: Experimental and theoretical study

The hybrid Photovoltaic/Thermal systems are suffering from the low electrical performance as a result of elevated its temperature. Present work attempts to enhance the performance of a hybrid Photovoltaic/Trombe wall (PV/TW) system through employing a porous medium. In this article, the effect of porous medium, DC fan and glass cover on the performance of a PV/TW was accomplished by the design and implementation of an experimental system to achieve this target. The mathematical method to predict the performance of a PV/TW system was also offered based on a simplified concept of an energy balance. The results of the theoretical study agreed well with the practical results in terms of the estimated temperature of the solar cell. The results revealed that incorporating the porous medium and DC fan offered favorable features of the system performance, while the glass cover has a conflict effect. It was confirmed that using porous medium and DC fan reduces the temperature of PV cell and increases the room temperature. Whereas, the presence of the glass cover in front of the system leads to elevate the temperatures of the room and solar cell. The presence of porous medium with DC fan increases the values of thermal and electrical efficiencies about 13% and 4%, respectively. Furthermore, the combined effect of porous medium with DC fan and glass cover increases the values of thermal and electrical efficiencies about 20% and 0.5%, respectively. It is recommended to integrate the PV/TW system with DC fan and porous medium for further conversion of solar radiation and improve building comfort conditions. •In this paper, the influence of porous media on the performance of the PV/TW was achieved.•Inserting the porous medium inside the air duct of the PV/TW system enhances the system efficiencies.•Incorporating the PV/TW system with a DC fan improves the system performance.•The use of glass cover decreases the electrical efficiency, while, increasing thermal efficiency.