Investigation on the thermal performance of a novel vacuum PV glazing in different climates

Abstract

With the rapid development of photovoltaic technologies, building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) windows could be used to replace traditional glazing, especially semi-transparent amorphous silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic (STPV) windows which can generate electricity in situ and admit daylight into the indoor environment. The utilization of semi-transparent PV modules provides the benefit of low solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) as a key characteristic of window products. Meanwhile, it also produces a drawback as the remaining solar energy could be converted into heat gain which increases cooling load. Due to the excellent thermal insulation performance of vacuum glazing, the integration of STPV and vacuum glazing provides the potential to achieve the best energy-efficient performance by the low solar heat gain of the PV modules and low heat losses of the vacuum glazing. However, the determination of a suitable glazing of a building in different locations must consider the climate background. In this paper, the thermal performance of the proposed vacuum photovoltaic insulated glass unit (VPV IGU) in different climate zones has been investigated. The simulation work has shown that the vacuum PV glazing can provide a significant energy saving potential in Harbin, Beijing, Wuhan and Hong Kong, which represent the severe cold, cold, hot summer and cold winter, and hot summer and warm winter regions, respectively. However, it is not suitable for the moderate climatic region like Kunming. The results have indicated the advantages of utilizing the vacuum PV glazing in different climates as well as its limitations.