Assessing suitable fields of application for PVT collectors with the characteristic temperature approach

PVT collectors co-generate heat and electricity and a single component. There are various PVT collector technologies available, with varying efficiencies and thus varying fields of application. But which PVT collector technologies are suitable for which fields of application? The characteristic temperature approach is a novel method, which correlates the electrical and thermal yield with the mean operating temperatures Tchar. Thus, the complexity of the system is reduced to a single temperature. Tchar is therefore an apt indicator to assess suitable fields of applications for PVT collectors and select the most suitable collector technology. Moreover, the characteristic temperature approach allows a preliminary dimensioning of a PVT system and estimate yields of different technologies.