1. Waste Heat Recovery from PV Panels
Group Status Report 3
Waste Heat Recovery from PV Panels

2. Brief Introduction
Use of heat exchangers on back of panels called Sundrums
Waste heat pulled off of back of panels
Main focus of project is the waste heat utilization in the form of domestic water usage
Side effect of pulling waste heat off panels should increase a measureable panel efficiency increase

3. Progress/Current Status
Electrical
System assembly, including junction box mounting and electrical connections (grounding) are complete.
Plumbing/Waterside
Hot water tank has been filled, closed loop is pressurized and functioning.
Testing has begun, and will continue for the remaining weekends. Data trends which the team was looking for were observed.
(IMAGE)-Closed water loop to capture removed waste heat

4. The Experiment Variables that will be monitored: TEMPERATURES POWER
Tank temperature-Using thermometer, heat that is transferred to water in the tank can be calculated, knowing the mass of water in the tank (45 gallons worth).
Send/return water temperatures-Using temperature gauges on the pump station, (as well as volumetric flow gauge), mass flow rate and heat transfer rate can be found.
PV Panel surface temperature-Using an infrared thermometer gun to measure specific points on each panel surface to get a model of the surface temperature distribution
POWER
TIGO will provide continuous kWh for the system.

5. The Experiment, cont.
Current rig location, with surrounding building limitations, should allow good incidence between ~10AM to ~4PM.
Half hourly measurements will be taken.
(TOP)-Send/Return Temp Gauge on pump station
(BOTTOM)-Volumetric flow meter on pump station

6. Experiment Outcomes Looking for the following:
Amount of heat transferred to the hot water in tank-Determine if the SunDrum system could have been used for baseboard heating for the net zero energy home
The difference in performance for each panel-the panels with heat recovery units should perform better (more kWh) due to the added heat removal.
% Difference from SunDrum’s claims of performance increase-compare and analyze the HRU’s performance as compared to the manufacturer’s spec sheets.
(ABOVE)-Design energy advantage of the SunDrum system

7. Gantt Chart