The French manufacturer said its PVT module has a PV module efficiency of up to 21.8% and a thermal power ranging from 459 W/m2.
DualSun, a French manufacturer of photovoltaic thermal (PVT) modules, presented a gravel black PVT product made for use with air-to-water heat pumps at the Energaia trade show, which took place last week in Montpellier, south-west France.
“The Springer panel can be used with different brands and types of heat pumps,” says the company’s sales manager, Virgile Quintin. pv magazine.
The module measures 1,722 mm x 1,134 x 71 mm and weighs 36.3 kg. It is based on 108 half-cut TOPCon solar cells and front glass with a thickness of 2 mm. It features an output power of 425 W and an energy conversion efficiency of 21.8%, with the no-load voltage and short-circuit current being 38.58 V and 13.83 A respectively.
The solar thermal unit has a surface area of 1.95 m2 and a thermal power of 459 W/m2. The fluid volume is 3.5 liters and the maximum working pressure is 6 bar.
The PVT panel can be used with heat pumps that have an indoor unit with a domestic hot water tank with a double exchanger or heat pumps with a space heating pipe directly connected to the heat pump’s hydraulic module and for monoblock heat pumps that provide hot water for domestic use contain tank with double exchanger.
In this case, the system configuration requires the solar thermal system to be connected to the lower heat exchanger located at the bottom of the heat pump’s domestic hot water tank, with the heat pumps supplied by manufacturers such as Hitachi, Viessmann and Luchtput.
In addition, the module can also be used with heat pumps with an indoor unit that does not have a domestic hot water tank.
In this case, a double exchanger tank must be added upstream, with the upper heat exchanger connected to the domestic hot water circuit of the heat pump and the lower exchanger connected to the solar thermal circuit. The list of selected manufacturers included the three manufacturers mentioned above plus Panasonic.
The PVT system is also compatible with heat pumps with an indoor unit containing a domestic hot water tank with a single exchanger.
This configuration requires a solar tank to be installed upstream and outside the heat pump’s integrated tank. The tank preheats the cold water inlet of the tank in the indoor heat pump unit and the PVT module is connected to the solar tank exchanger. The selected heat pump manufacturers for this solution are exclusively Hitachi and Viessmann.
The panel comes with a 10-year product warranty and a 25-year performance warranty on the PV unit.
“The energetic performance of the system is on average 1.2 times higher than that of a traditional heating solution with an air-water heat pump,” says Quintin. “When the panels are connected to a heat pump, the heat exchange between the photovoltaic cells and the heat exchanger ensures that the cells operate at a lower temperature than simple photovoltaic panels, and therefore with a higher efficiency.”
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