1

ABSTRACT
A single pass photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar collector with
hexagonal honeycomb heat exchanger was studied. It is a
combination of photovoltaic panel and solar thermal
components in one integrated system. The honeycomb was
installed horizontally into the channel located at the back side
of the PV module. Air, as heat removing fluid is made to flow
through the honeycomb. The system was tested with and
without the honeycomb at irradiance of 828 W/m
2
and mass
flow rate spanning from 0.02 kg/s to 0.13 kg/s. It was observed
that the aluminum honeycomb is capable of enhancing the
thermal efficiency of the system efficiently. At mass flow rate
of 0.11 kg/s, the thermal efficiency of the system with the
honeycomb is 87 % and without is 27%. The electrical
efficiency of the PV module remains almost the same for both
systems. This design is suitable to be further investigated as
solar drying system and space heating.
Key words: Photovoltaic/ thermal, Honeycomb heat exchanger,
Thermal efficiency, Electrical efficiency

1. INTRODUCTION
One of the major factors that affect the popularity of
photovoltaic module is that, it is relatively low in efficiency.
Until today, commercially available photovoltaic module
efficiency claim by manufacturers is between 6% to 16%.
However the claimed efficiency is at the temperature of 25 C.
In reality, especially for countries with hot weather, their
ambient temperature during sunny day will be more than 35
C. The rising of the PV temperature will result in the drop of
the module efficiency. In order to minimize PV module losing
its efficiency, a simultaneous cooling system using air or water













as the heat transfer liquid can be implemented. The heat output
from the system can be collected and stored as thermal energy.
This advance system is known as PV/T technology. A PV/T
solar collector is a combination of photovoltaic panel (PV) and
solar thermal components or system which is capable of
producing both electrical energy and thermal energy
simultaneously in one integrated system. The photovoltaic
panel could be from the selection of monocrystalline silicon,
c-Si, polycrystalline silicon, pc-Si, amorphous silicon, a-Si or
thin-film solar cell. The solar thermal components are various
designs of a solar thermal collector which collects heat from
the back of the PV panel (1).
For the last 35 years there have been significant amounts of
research and development work on PV/T technology (1). PV/T
solar collector system can be classified as PV/T water system
and PV/T air system. PV/T/water systems are more efficient
compared to PV/T/air due to its high thermo-physical
properties (2). However PV/T/air systems are more extensively
studied due to their low constructions and operational costs and
cost effective solution for building integrated PV system.
Early research work for PV/T started in 1970s. The
performance of a combination solar photovoltaic and solar
heating system (PV/T) of a two story structure, single family
residence in Boston, U.S.A had been analyzed (3). The well
known HottelWhillier model had been modified to analyze
the photovoltaic/thermal flat plate collectors (4). The
modifications were based on the cell array efficiency and the
decrease of cell efficiency with temperature. A combination
consideration of flat-plate PV/T collector had been designed
using computer simulation (5). A PV/T system consists of flat
air solar air heater, solar cell and plane booster reflector was
studied (6). The usage of booster has increased the thermal
PERFORMANCE OF A SINGLE PASS AIR BASE PHOTOVOLTAIC/THERMAL SOLAR
COLLECTOR WITH AND WITHOUT HEXAGONAL HONEYCOMB HEAT EXCHANGER
F. Hussain
Z.Anuar
S. Khairuddin
National Metrology Laboratory,
SIRIM Berhad, 43900 Sepang,
Selangor, Malaysia
faridahh_hussain@sirim.my
khairiz@sirim.my
ksuhaila@sirim.my
M.Y.H. Othman
B. Yatim
H. Ruslan
K. Sopian
Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI),
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
myho@ukm.my
baha@ukm.my
hafidz@ukm.my
ksopian@eng.ukm.my

efficiency, but decreases the electrical efficiency of the system.
The design system is suitable as solar dryer.
A steady state model to analyze the performance of a single
pass and double PV/T solar collector system suitable for solar
drying had been developed (7). The performance of four
models of PV/T collector for single pass and double pass
system had been evaluated (8). Heat balance equation had been
identified and solved for each model. A double pass PV/T
system with compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) and fins
had been fabricated (9). Fins attached at the back of the PV
absorber plate act as the heat exchanger. Performance of a
solar collector with v-groove heat absorber had been studied
(10). The efficiency of the system with v-groove is 12 % more
efficient compared to plat plate collector. The thermal
efficiency of double pass PV/T system with porous media at
the lower channel had been studied (11). A single pass PV/T
system with aluminum - grooved absorber plate was
(12). The thickness of the aluminum is 0.7 mm, attached at the
back of the PV module. A direct coupled PV/T system outdoor
in Kerman, Iran was tested (13). The design of the system
involves use of a thin aluminum sheet placed in the middle of
the air channel as the heat exchanger to cool the PV panels.
Another PV/T solar collector with an active cooling system
was fabricated to increase the electrical efficiency of a PV
module (14). A parallel array of ducts with inlet/outlet
manifolds was attached to the back of the PV module.
This experiment studies a single pass air base
photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar collector combined with
hexagonal honeycomb heat exchanger. A commercially
available monocrystalline silicon PV module was used to
produce the electrical energy. As for the thermal components,
five pieces of corrugated aluminum sheet as shown in F
were joined together to fabricate a hexagonal honeycomb heat
exchanger. The honeycomb was installed horizontally as
shown in Figure 2a, Figure 2b and Figure 2c into the channel
located at the back side of the PV module in order to enhance
the thermal efficiency of the system.
The schematic integrated components of the system are
illustrated in Figure 3. It consists of a blower, a heater and
ducting to provide consistent air flow through the PV/T
collector. Two units of variable voltage regulators had been
used to control the speed of the blower and the temperature of
the heater. Type T thermocouples had been used to measure
temperature at various locations. By using variable voltage
regulator, the heater temperature was adjusted in order to
ensure that the inlet temperature is equivalent to the ambient
temperature. The system was tested indoor with and without
the honeycomb heat exchanger using solar simulator with
irradiance of 828 W/m
2
and mass flow rate spanning from 0.02
kg/s to 0.13 kg/s.



efficiency, but decreases the electrical efficiency of the system.
A steady state model to analyze the performance of a single
pass and double PV/T solar collector system suitable for solar
erformance of four
and double pass
. Heat balance equation had been
double pass PV/T
system with compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) and fins
fabricated (9). Fins attached at the back of the PV
Performance of a
groove heat absorber had been studied
groove is 12 % more
he thermal
ble pass PV/T system with porous media at
A single pass PV/T
grooved absorber plate was analyzed
(12). The thickness of the aluminum is 0.7 mm, attached at the
coupled PV/T system outdoor
in Kerman, Iran was tested (13). The design of the system
involves use of a thin aluminum sheet placed in the middle of
the air channel as the heat exchanger to cool the PV panels.
oling system
was fabricated to increase the electrical efficiency of a PV
module (14). A parallel array of ducts with inlet/outlet
manifolds was attached to the back of the PV module.
T) solar collector combined with
A commercially
available monocrystalline silicon PV module was used to
produce the electrical energy. As for the thermal components,
five pieces of corrugated aluminum sheet as shown in Figure 1
were joined together to fabricate a hexagonal honeycomb heat
exchanger. The honeycomb was installed horizontally as
shown in Figure 2a, Figure 2b and Figure 2c into the channel
located at the back side of the PV module in order to enhance
integrated components of the system are
illustrated in Figure 3. It consists of a blower, a heater and
ducting to provide consistent air flow through the PV/T
ad been
used to control the speed of the blower and the temperature of
the heater. Type T thermocouples had been used to measure
temperature at various locations. By using variable voltage
adjusted in order to
hat the inlet temperature is equivalent to the ambient
temperature. The system was tested indoor with and without
the honeycomb heat exchanger using solar simulator with
from 0.02

Fig 1: Joined pieces of aluminum sheets




Fig 2a: PV module with honeycomb heat exchanger


Fig 2b: Photo of honeycomb installed at the back of the
PV module


Fig 2c: The honeycomb installed at the back of the PV

Sheet 1
Sheet 2
Sheet 3
Sheet 4
Sheet 5
Hexagonal shape
Photovoltaic module
Heat Insulator
Aluminum sheet
Honeycomb heat
exchanger
2

Fig 1: Joined pieces of aluminum sheets

Fig 2a: PV module with honeycomb heat exchanger

Fig 2b: Photo of honeycomb installed at the back of the

Fig 2c: The honeycomb installed at the back of the PV module
Hexagonal shape
23 mm
Photovoltaic module
Heat Insulator
3










2. EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
The purpose of this experiment is to overcome the loss of PV
module electrical efficiency operated at high temperature
above 25 C and at the same time to collect and utilize the
thermal energy from the design system. Therefore a piece of
hexagonal honeycomb heat exchanger had been introduced in
the experiment.
The performance of the PV/T solar collector had been tested
indoor using a laboratory fabricated solar simulator. The solar
simulator had been tested in terms of its irradiance
repeatability and uniformity (15). The test area of the solar
simulator is 120 cm x 53 cm suitable for the size of the solar
collector that is tested under the simulator. The distance
between lamps and collector is 1.6 m. During experiment, the
simulator was set to 828 W/m
2
all the time.
A schematic view of the PV/T solar collector is illustrated in
Figure 3. It is a single pass system with air as the fluid medium
for heat transfer. The electrical energy is collected using A
mono-crystalline (SW 85) photovoltaic module manufactured
by Solarworld, USA. The thermal system consists of a blower
attached into a galvanized ducting with length of 2.5 m. A
voltage regulator had been used to control the air speed of the
blower between 0.4 m/s to 1.5 m/s flow through the system. A
heater controlled by a voltage regulator was installed into the
ducting in order to ensure that the inlet temperature is
equivalent to the ambient temperature. Type T thermocouples
were installed at various location of the PV/T system to
measure the inlet, outlet and panel temperature.
Locally purchased aluminum sheet had been made into
corrugated sheet. Five pieces of aluminum corrugated sheets as
shown in Figure 1 had been joined together to fabricate a piece
of compact honeycomb with hexagonal geometry. The
honeycomb was installed horizontally into the channel located
at the back side of the PV module.
During the experiment, air with mass flow rate spans from 0.02
kg/s to 0.13 kg/s flowed through the honeycomb. Polyethylene










had been used to cover the ducting and the PV module as
thermal insulation to minimize heat loss from the system.
Three units of fans were used to minimize the infrared effect
from the halogen lamps of the solar simulator.

3. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The experiment had been divided into two parts. For the first
part, the performance of the PV/T system had been tested with
and without hexagonal honeycomb with irradiance setting of
828 W/m
2
at 5 different mass flow rates. Mass flow rates of the
air through the system were set to 0.021 kg/s, 0.042 kg/s, 0.085
kg/s, 0.110 kg/s and 0.128 kg/s. At each mass flow rate setting,
time of not less than 70 minutes was allowed for temperature
stabilization. Measurements of short circuit current, I
sc
(A),
open circuit voltage, V
oc
(V), maximum current, I
m
(A) and
maximum voltage, V
m
(V) were measured using Agilent
34401A Digital Multimeter. The irradiance value was
measured using LICOR pyranometer. These data were used to
calculate the maximum power and electrical efficiency of the
PV/T system.
Ten units of Type T thermocouples were placed at various
locations of the system. Inlet temperature, panel temperature,
outlet temperature and temperature at the back of the thermal
insulator were measured and used to calculate the thermal
efficiency of the system.
As for the second part of the experiment, the PV/T system was
tested at 4 different irradiances settings. The irradiance setting
values were 591 W/m
2
, 705 W/m
2
, 828 W/m
2
and 906 W/m
2
.
The mass flow rate during the measurement was set to 0.110
kg/s at all times. Once again, the performance of PV/T system
was evaluated with and without the hexagonal honeycomb heat
exchanger.


4

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The aim of this experiment was to enhance the thermal
efficiency and the electrical efficiency of the PV/T system by
introducing aluminum hexagonal honeycomb as heat
exchanger into the system. All parameters involved in the
calculation of thermal and electrical efficiency were measured.
Equation (1) is a common equation used to calculate the
electrical efficiency of a PV/T system. Measurements of short
circuit current, I
sc
(A), open circuit voltage, V
oc
(V), can be
done by direct connection between the multimeter and the PV
module.
n
cI
=
I
m
x V
m
Ac x S
x 100% (1)
Maximum current, I
m
(A) and maximum voltage, V
m
(V) was
determined from I/V curve measurement of the PV module
using digital multimeter and rheostat. A
c
is the area of the solar
cell and S is the average irradiance value during the
experiment.
Maximum power contributed by the PV module, P
m
is given by
equation (2).
P
m
= I
m
x V
m
(2)
Mass flow rate, m of the air flow through the system was
calculated using equation (3).
m = AV
av
(3)
Mass flow rate of fluid is important to calculate the thermal
efficiency of the system. For temperature below 100 C,
density of air, is constant. Area of input, A is measured at
location X as in Figure 3. Speed of air form blower through the
ducting was regulated using voltage regulator. Then, air
velocity, V
av
at location X was calculated. Equation (4) was
used to calculate the thermal efficiency of the developed PV/T
system.
n
th
=
mC
p
(1
c
-1
i
)
A
p
S
x 100% (4)
Where C
p
is specific heat of air, A
p
is the area of the PV/T
collector, T
i
is the temperature air at input location, T
o
is the
temperature air at output location of the system and S is the
average irradiance value during the experiment.
The new innovation in this work is the aluminum hexagonal
honeycomb as heat exchanger located under the PV module.
The structure of the hexagonal honeycomb has large surface
area touching to the back of the PV module. Therefore it will
enhance the heat transfer from the back of the PV module to
the air as the moving fluid through radiation, convention and
conduction. With this the thermal and electrical efficiencies of
the system will be better.
Graph in Figure 4 shows the temperature difference (T
o
T
i
)
C of the collector with and without honeycomb at irradiance
of 828 W/m
2
.


Fig 4: Temperature difference, (T
o
T
i
) C
The temperature difference decreases with the increase of the
mass flow rate. The maximum and minimum temperature
difference between two collectors is 6 C at 0.02 kg/s and 2.7
C at 0.13 kg/s respectively. Results show that PV/T collector
with honeycomb absorbs and transfers heat more efficiently.
Graph in Figure 5 illustrates the electrical efficiency, n
cI
for
both collectors. The electrical efficiency, n
cI
for both
collectors increases with the increase of the fluid mass flow
rate. PV/T collector with honeycomb shows slightly higher
electrical efficiency, , n
cI
compared to the collector without
honeycomb. However, it could be concluded that for both
collectors, the electrical efficiency , n
cI
remains almost the
same.


Fig 5: Electrical efficiency, n
cI
of both collectors


Fig 6: Thermal efficiency, n
th
of both collectors
5


Graph in Figure 6 shows the thermal efficiency, n
th
of both
collectors at 828 W/m
2
. The experimental result shows that the
thermal efficiency, n
th
increases with the increase of mass flow
rate up to 0.11 kg/s. Above mass flow rate 0.11 kg/s, the
thermal efficiency, n
th
remains stable. The maximum thermal
efficiency, , n
th
of the collector with the honeycomb is 87 %
and without is 27%. Result shows large difference of ~60%
between two collectors. This proves that the structure of the
hexagonal honeycomb with large surface area touching to the
back of the PV module is capable to enhance the heat transfer
from the back of the PV module to the air as the moving fluid.

Fig. 7: Comparison of electrical efficiency, , n
cI
of both
collectors at different irradiance
As for the second part of the experiment, both PV/T collectors
were tested at irradiance setting of 591 W/m
2
, 705 W/m
2
, 828
W/m
2
and 906 W/m
2
. The mass flow rate during the
measurement was set to 0.110 kg/s all times. Graph in Figure 7
illustrates the experimental results. Electrical efficiency, n
cI
of
collector with honeycomb is slightly better. The electrical
efficiency , n
cI
is lower at higher irradiance due to the
increasing temperature of the PV module caused by infrared
radiation effect from the halogen lamp of the solar simulator.
Referring to the experimental results, the aim of this
experiment which is to enhance the thermal and the electrical
efficiencies of the PV/T system, by introducing aluminum
hexagonal honeycomb as heat exchanger into the system had
been successfully achieved. Results from this experiment
compared to other works before for similar collector system
shows an improvement mainly in the thermal efficiency.
Therefore this innovation can be further improved in the near
future for building applications.

CONCLUSION
The performance of a single pass air base photovoltaic/thermal
(PV/T) solar collector with hexagonal honeycomb heat
exchanger is more efficient compared to the PV/T collector
without honeycomb. The structure of the honeycomb with
large surface area touching to the back of the PV module
enhances the heat transfer from the back of the PV module to
the flowing air.

At irradiance of 828 W/m
2
and mass flow rate of 0.11 kg/s, the
thermal efficiency of the collector with the honeycomb is 87 %
and without is 27%. The thermal efficiency is enhanced by 60
% for system with honeycomb. The electrical efficiency of the
PV module remains almost the same for both systems. It can be
concluded that this design system is suitable to be further
investigated as solar drying system and space heating. This
innovation is simple for manufacturing process and compact
which enables it to be easily implemented for building
integration.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The experiment described in this paper was financially
supported by SIRIM Berhad, Malaysia. The technical supports
are received from University Kebangsaan Malaysia under
research grants UKM-DLP-2011-053 and
PRGS/1/11/TK/UKM/01/12. The author would like to express
great appreciation to both organizations for their valuable
support. Furthermore, the author would like to thank Mr Abdul
Rashid Hj. Zainal Abidin, Senior General Manager of National
Metrology Laboratory, SIRIM Berhad, Mrs. Hafidzah Othman
and Mrs. Irene Safinaz Hassan for their ideas and advices.

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