Conference Paper
Proceedings of BSA Conference 2024: Sixth Conference of IBPSA-Italy
An Investigation Into Thermal Bridging Effects in an Envelope Integrated With End-Of-Life Photovoltaic Panels
An Investigation Into Thermal Bridging Effects in an Envelope Integrated With End-Of-Life Photovoltaic Panels
Roshan Raghavendra Rao, Monto ManiDOI: https://doi.org/10.13124/9788860462022_69Abstract: Upcycling End-of-Life Solar Photovoltaic panels in buildings is a novel approach to manage the imminent growing problem of PV waste. The EoL-PV panels have been characterized to have a high U-value and low thermal mass. To address this issue, interventions involving tandem plywood (preferably EoL packaging plywood) have been proposed and tested through whole building simulations in our preceding studies. A typical PV panel is encased in an aluminium frame whose thermal conductivity is of two orders of magnitude higher than a PV panel. This causes thermal bridging, which must be accounted for in the Uvalue calculation of PV panels. In this study, the thermal bridging effect due to the aluminium frame is analysed using two-dimensional finite-element method-based tool, THERM. A rise in the U-value of around 13% has been estimated due to the presence of a frame in PV panel. To demonstrate the impact of U-value of PV panel on the building’s thermal performance, simulations have been performed with lumped-capacitance simple single zone model in TRNSYS. One of the interventions, having the highest plywood thickness in tandem to the EoL-PV panel, was the least sensitive to the thermal bridging effect on annual heating/cooling load and fared best in terms of thermal mass. Pages: 565 - 572 Paper: