The issue of temperature distribution is significant in the research of PV/T collectors due to the inherent negative temperature characteristics of solar cells. In this paper, a three-dimensional thermal model of a water-cooled flat-panel PV/T collector with serpentine tube is established using the finite element method, which the simulation accuracy is verified by the experimental data. We investigate the effect of multiple factors on the temperature distribution, including tube spacing, absorber materials, inlet velocity and tube row arrangement, respectively. Our results show that reducing ...
