Ventilation benefit accrued from PV module installed in building

Solar radiation is an important source of heat gain into the building and plays an important role as far as thermal comfort in a dwelling is concerned. In summer and in hot climate regions, the thermal gain of a building exceeds the thermal comfort level of the inhabitants and cooling is desirable. The high insolation may be utilized to provide the necessary ventilation cheaply. In this study, we propose to use photovoltaic (PV) system installed in a building to provide natural ventilation by adopting it as a Roof Solar Collector (RSC) and modifying the air channel by inserting a Thin Flat Metallic Sheet (TFMS) in the middle of the channel to enhance the natural flow and also reduce the roof temperature by acting as a shield. The results show that the modified system does increase the thermal efficiency of air resulting in higher temperature rise hence airflow rate.