ABSTRACT
Photovoltaic conversion consists of the direct conversion of photons from the sun into electricity in a solid-state semiconductor device called a PV cell, which is the core of a PV system. In an attempt to enhance the relatively low efficiency of PV systems and allow for cogeneration of electricity and heat, the coupling of PVs with solar thermal components was proposed in the late 1970s. During winter operation, hot water from the photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) collectors primarily drove the evaporator of the heat pump, while, during summer operation, the heat from the PVT collectors was led to the adsorption chiller. PV cells are made of semiconductor materials such as mono- or poly-crystalline silicon, gallium arsenide (GaAs), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and cadmium telluride (CdTe). One field of emerging scientific interest concerns the combination of concentrated PV and a PVT systems, a novel hybrid system called the concentrated photovoltaic-thermal (CPVT) system.
