One-year performance comparison of conventional and Finned-Rib PV/T systems

Photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) technology enables the concurrent production of electrical power and useful thermal energy within a single solar collector, thereby improving the overall utilization of incident solar radiation. Nevertheless, the accumulation of heat inside photovoltaic modules remains a major limitation, as elevated operating temperatures reduce electrical conversion efficiency. To address this issue, the present work investigates the performance of an enhanced air-cooled PV/T collector equipped with integrated fins and ribs, and compares it with a conventional air-based PV/T configuration. A three-dimensional numerical model was developed in ANSYS Fluent using the finite volume method to analyze the thermal and electrical responses of both systems. The assessment was performed under the representative climatic conditions of Oujda, Morocco, over an entire year in order to capture seasonal variations in operating performance. The numerical results demonstrate that the combined fin-rib arrangement improves heat dissipation from the photovoltaic module, leading to noticeable gains in system efficiency. Compared with the conventional collector, the proposed design achieved a maximum thermal efficiency of 35%, whereas the reference configuration reached approximately 28%. In addition, the enhanced cooling reduced the photovoltaic operating temperature, resulting in an electrical efficiency increase of approximately 0.5–1%. These findings confirm that integrating fins and ribs into the air channel is an effective passive strategy for improving the overall performance of air-based PV/T systems.