Wednesday, August 6, 2014

You get more of what you measure...

I had not noticed SolarThermalWorld until today. Looks like PVT is in a ghetto there too. Still some good coverage of PVT with a thermal emphasis. Fair enough. This story got my attention and maybe it should get yours.

Story here 

here is what jumped out for me:

  • So far, PVT collectors have not been included in the standard. But there is already a so-called extended scope, which means that they may be included later in a second part of the standard.
  • Fluid-based collectors will see some changes in their testing procedures compared to EN 12975-2. The new standard regards the collector gross area as the relevant reference for all area-specific data, e.g., the yield per area. Until now, the reference used in Germany has been the aperture area, which has presented some difficulties in comparing collector data on an international basis.

PVT with its interaction between the energy streams is going to be tough to pin down. My design has low interaction between the "sides" which is great for me but all of the hybrids are going to need to represent the various modes of operation and the variety of operating temperatures is vexing.