A building-integrated hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) window for synergistic light management, electricity and heat generation
Author(s)
Polito, Francesco
Huang, Gan
Markides, Christos
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The installation of common solar panels and collectors in the built environment requires access to significant roof space, which is limited. This motivates the development of high-efficiency, building-integrated technologies that can maximize space utilization and energy provision. In this work, a building-integrated hybrid photovoltaic-thermal window (PVTW) is fabricated and tested, composed of a semi-transparent photovoltaic (PV) layer and a selectively absorptive liquid-based thermal absorber. It is demonstrated that, at 30° inclination, the PVTW can simultaneously generate electricity, with an electrical efficiency of 3.6%, and provide ≈50 °C water, with a thermal efficiency of 10.7%, in the middle of a typical summer day (20th July) in London (maximum ambient temperature ≈34 °C, solar irradiance ≈1100 W m−2 at midday). The water temperature decreases by ≈7 °C, whilst thermal efficiency improves to 17.6% as the inclination angle increases to 90° (vertical); the electrical efficiency reduces marginally (3.3%). Compared to a liquid-based solar-thermal window (STW), the PVTW can generate hot water at ≈10 °C higher temperature and with 10% absolute increase in thermal efficiency when the inclination angle is 60°, plus electricity. The wider uptake of this technology in glass-based urban spaces has the potential to generate significant energy while reducing building temperature management costs.
Date Issued
2025-01-20
Date Acceptance
2024-11-06
Citation
Advanced Science, 2025, 12 (3)
ISSN
2198-3844
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
Advanced Science
Volume
12
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202408057
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
2408057
Date Publish Online
2024-11-25