Experimental study of a novel PV/micro-channel-heat-exchanging collector based heat pump system

In this paper, a novel design of a practical micro-channel photovoltaic/thermal (MC-PV/T) collector-based heat pump system is presented. The photovoltaic solar-assisted heat-pump/micro-channel (PV-SAHP/MC) system was able to provide electricity year-round and thermal energy for room heating in winter. In this system, the most important element was the MC-PV/T and the micro-channel was designed to be the evaporator. The micro-channel structure had an advantage over the heat transfer area and coefficient. When the phase-change medium went through the channel, it was able to absorb the solar energy fully, resulting in a low temperature of the collector, improving both the electrical and thermal efficiency of the MC-PV/T. Experiments were carried out on the system and the results indicated that the average electrical, thermal and total energy efficiency of the MC-PV/T was 15.4%, 56.6% and 69.7%, respectively, and the average coefficient of performance (COP) of the PV-SAHP/MC system was about 4.7.