Dynamic coupled thermal and electrical model of residential rooftop BIPV systems

We present a transient coupled thermal and electrical model of BIPV systems installed on rooftops and naturally ventilated through air cavities imposed by building conception rule (ventilation of skeleton). This model realized in TRNSYS software was experimentally validated using five different residential BIPV systems commercially available in France in 2010. Relative differences between predicted and measured data exceeding 2% and 4% were observed for the thermal and electrical results respectively. The model was accurate to 2% for sunny days and less precise for cloudy days. This model was used to deduce the impact of rooftop integration configuration on electrical performance.