Experimental characterization of a hybrid industrial solar tile

In this work an innovative hybrid solar panel is presented. The panel is particularly resistant. It is walkable and can be used as a tile to cover places, terraces and roofs. It consists in a photovoltaic cell layer placed in contact with an aluminium heat sink which transfers heat from the cells to a water flow. The lower part of the heat sink and the hydraulic and electrical connectors are encapsulated in an opaque and insulating resin. The upper part and the cells are covered with a transparent resin. The heat sink consists in an aluminium block in which some channels and the input and output plena are created. In the prototype version of the panel, a circular section has been assigned to the channels. Some preliminary results are presented, which have been obtained on the hybrid panel prototype. In particular the efficiency of the photovoltaic cells has been investigated by changing the water temperature and flow under different solar conditions.