Impact of solar cell materials on the energy performance of SPVT air collector

The impact of roof-integrated semitransparent photovoltaic thermal (SPVT) air collectors connected in series for cold climates has been assessed using a new model established in this research. Numerical calculations have been performed using analytical formulae derived for the temperatures of the room air, roof, and solar cells. These findings have led to evaluations of the thermal, electrical, and overall exergy of various solar cell materials (Single-crystalline, Multi-crystalline silicon, Nanocrystalline -Silicon, Amorphous silicon, Cadmium Telluride and copper indium gallium selenide). According to the findings, amorphous silicon has the maximum peak solar cell electrical efficiency of 10.8% and single-crystalline has the minimum peak efficiency of 7.0% for the proposed system. Further, performance analysis has also been done based on different packing factor and mass flow rates.