The electricity conversion-efficiency of a solar cell for commercial application is about 6-15%. More than 85% of the incoming solar energy is either reflected or absorbed as heat energy. Consequently, the working temperature of the solar cells increases considerably after prolonged operations...

A novel heat pump system is proposed in that the PV/T collector is coupled with a solar assisted heat pump and works as an evaporator. The cooling effect of the refrigerant allows the PV modules to work at lower temperature and so its photovoltaic efficiency is improved. Mathematical model has...

A flat-box aluminum-alloy photovoltaic and water-heating system designed for natural circulation was constructed. The hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) collector was an integration of single-crystalline silicon cells into a solar thermal collector. The product was able to generate electricity...

The working principles and the basic features of a multi-functional domestic heat-pump (MDHP) system are introduced in this paper. Comparatively, the system can provide much better energy performance and higher equipment utilization throughout a year, causes less thermal pollution than the...

PV-Trombe wall (PVTW) is a novel version of Trombe-wall. Photovoltaic cells on the cover glazing of the PVTW can convert solar radiation into electricity and heat simultaneously. A window on the south façade can also introduce solar heat into the room in the winter season. Experiment has been...

This paper presents an experimental and analytical study on incorporation of thermoelectric modules with glass evacuated-tube heat-pipe solar collectors. The integrated solar heat-pipe/thermoelectric module (SHP-TE) can be used for combined water heating and electricity generation. The...

As a modified building-integrated solar thermal system, building-integrated dual-function solar collector here proposed is able to provide passive space heating in cold winter, and water heating in warm seasons. In this study, evaluations were made on this modified collector system for the warm...

Buildings composited with thermoelectric cooling and heating systems use solar energy to cool rooms in summer and heat rooms in winter via thermoelectric devices and photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) dual function modules. In summer, the thermoelectric device works as a Peltier cooler when electrical...

Minto engine is a kind of liquid piston heat engine that operates on a small temperature gradient. But there is no power formula for it yet. And its thermal efficiency is low and formula sometimes is misused. In this paper, deriving the power formula and simplifying the thermal efficiency...

Simple and reliable, PV direct-coupled DC pumps are promising in solar water heating systems (SWHS). However, there is limited experimental data on the performance comparison of PV-coupled SWHS with traditional SWHS. Hence in this study, a comparative test rig is set up to measure and analyze...