Building integration and optimization of a solar electric-thermal energy cogeneration system |
Siddharth Padmanabha1, Thalia Koutsougeras1, Tim Keegan1, Owen Harris1, Axel Nielsen1, Daniel Codd2, Jake Alter3, Matthew Escarra1 1Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States /2University of San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States /3Bernhard LLC, New Orleans, LA, United States |
We present design optimization and pilot implementation of a building integrated hybrid Concentrated Photovoltaic-Thermal (CPV/T) system for cogeneration of electricity and process heat. A multijunction solar cell module is used in conjunction with a two-stage thermal receiver to achieve high efficiency solar energy transfer to an existing building system. The sunflower-like CPV/T system has the PV/T module mounted at a 60mm distance from the focal point of a 500-sun concentrator. This recessed mounting allows for a 60-40% split of thermal-PV module energy collection, resulting in an overall system efficiency of >70%. |