امین شهسوارگلدانلو

By combining photovoltaic panels that are able to convert solar energy into electricity with solar collectors that are able to convert solar energy into heat, photovoltaic/thermal hybrid collectors (PTHCs) are invented. In these systems, solar energy is simultaneously converted into electricity and heat, and they have a better performance than separate photovoltaic panels and solar collectors. For this reason, improving the performance of these systems has always been the focus of researchers. The present numerical research is devoted to the investigation of the effect of using a rotary propeller type turbulator in a concentrating PTHC (CPTHC) on the energy and exergy features of the collector. The results are compared with the data belonging to the cases without a turbulator and with a stationary turbulator. The effect of Reynolds number (Re) and rotational speed of the turbulator (ω) on the results is investigated. Water is considered as the working fluid of the CPTHC, and its flow is carried out in a turbulent regime. Among the three investigated cases, the best and worst performance belonged to the CPTHCs with a rotary turbulator and without a turbulator, respectively. The results showed that the rise of ω from 0 to 10000 rpm results in a growth in the thermal energy efficiency, total energy efficiency and thermal exergy efficiency by 75.47%–90.17%, 115.80%–130.78% and 0.75%–0.87%, respectively. Additionally, it was explored that the rise of ω entails an ascending-descending trend in the useful electrical power, first law electrical efficiency, second law electrical efficiency and second law total efficiency of the CPTHC, and the maximum value of these parameters occurs at ω = 5000 rpm. The highest total energy efficiency, which was equal to 130.78%, belonged to the case of Re = 20000 and ω = 10000 rpm, while the highest exergy efficiency was equal to 17.24% and belonged to the case of Re = 20000 and ω = 5000 rpm.