DOI: https://doi.org/10.61435/ijred.2026.61856
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Performance analysis of flow channel collector for photovoltaic thermal system

1Human Resource Development Center for Oil and Gas, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Jl. Sorogo No.1 Cepu, Blora, Indonesia

2Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE), UM Power Energy Dedicated Advanced Centre (UMPEDAC), Level 4, Wisma R&D, Universiti Malaya, Jalan Pantai Baharu, 59990 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Received: 6 Oct 2025; Revised: 6 Dec 2025; Accepted: 26 Dec 2025; Available online: 13 Jan 2026; Published: 1 Mar 2026.
Editor(s): H Hadiyanto
Open Access Copyright (c) 2026 The Author(s). Published by Centre of Biomass and Renewable Energy (CBIORE)
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

Solar energy has seen the most significant development in the past decade. Electricity and hot water production are the two most common uses of solar energy. A photovoltaic (PV) system is a popular method for generating electricity from solar energy. However, PV systems are known for their low efficiency, which reduces further as the PV cell temperature rises. The photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) system combines a PV system with a thermal collector to provide dual benefits, namely power generation and hot water production. However, PVT system research often employs a constant flow (CF) strategy in which water is continually cycled throughout the experiment, making it inapplicable. In comparison, the constant collection temperature (CCT) scheme is a more feasible approach, but its impact on PVT system performance has received less attention. This study compares a flow channel PVT system using both CF and CCT strategies. The results show that the CF scheme achieved a higher maximum thermal efficiency of 35.05%, while the CCT scheme reached 17.89%. The CCT method can also maintain the optimum water temperature despite changing radiation circumstances. The PVT system outperforms traditional PV panels regarding electricity efficiency, with a maximum improvement of 0.89% and 0.96% utilizing the CF and CCT schemes, respectively. These results show that PVT systems with CCT schemes that use less energy for pumping outperform PV panels in terms of power production and electricity efficiency.

Keywords: solar energy; thermal photovoltaic system; constant flow; constant collection temperature; flow channel; power generation
Funding: UM Power Energy Dedicated Advanced Centre (UMPEDAC) and the Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE) Program Research Grant, UMPEDAC - 2020

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Section: Original Research Article
Language : EN
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