A Numerical Study of the Thermal and Electrical Performance of Water-Based PVT Collectors with Varying Configurations

Rudi Darussalam; Iwa Garniwa; Chairul Hudaya; Ahmad Fudholi

doi:10.48084/etasr.17653

Authors

Rudi Darussalam Department of Electrical Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, West Java, Indonesia
Iwa Garniwa Department of Electrical Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, West Java, Indonesia
Chairul Hudaya Department of Electrical Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, West Java, Indonesia
Ahmad Fudholi Research Center for Energy Conversion Technology, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Tangerang Selatan, Indonesia

Volume: 16 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 35570-35578 | June 2026 | https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.17653

Received: 20 January 2026 | Revised: 28 February 2026 and 25 March 2026 | Accepted: 1 April 2026 | Online: 6 June 2026

Corresponding author: Chairul Hudaya

Abstract

This study evaluates the performance of water-based Photovoltaic Thermal (PVT) systems with three absorber collector configurations: twin spiral, direct, and oscillatory. Simulations were carried out using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) ANSYS software in steady-state conditions by considering the influence of variations in water mass flow rate (0.015 kg/s – 0.055 kg/s) and solar irradiance levels (600 W/m², 700 W/m², 900 W/m², and 1000 W/m²). The results showed that the absorber configuration significantly influenced PV cooling and energy performance. Among the three designs, the twin spiral configuration provided the best overall performance. At 900 W/m² and 0.02 kg/s, the twin spiral configuration reduced the PV temperature to 43.38 °C, compared with 56.59 °C for the direct configuration and 43.84 °C for the oscillatory configuration. Under the same condition, it achieved an electrical efficiency of 17.25% and a thermal efficiency of 77.37%, compared with 16.00% and 77.44% for the direct configuration, and 17.21% and 77.35% for the oscillatory configuration. The highest electrical efficiency obtained in this study was 18.06%, achieved by the twin spiral configuration at 600 W/m² and 0.055 kg/s. These findings indicate that the twin spiral absorber offers the most favorable balance between PV cooling and combined thermal-electrical performance among the investigated configurations.

Keywords:

photovoltaic thermal systems, collector configuration, mass flow rate, solar irradiance, thermal performance, electrical efficiency

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