Abstract

The application of photovoltaics in buildings for solar energy power generation in urban areas is developing quickly. As a result, building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems have emerged as multi-functional systems that not only produce electricity on-site but also replace conventional building envelope components and integrate with mechanical systems. Although characterization of the electrical performance in the photovoltaics used in these systems is provided by manufacturers, without clear evaluations of the building envelope and mechanical performance parameters of these systems for comparison to traditional building system components, it is challenging for architects, engineers, and building owners to make informed decisions regarding their implementation in building design.

This thesis aims to evaluate the characteristics of building integrated photovoltaic systems as components of the building envelope and mechanical systems. Different types of building integrated photovoltaic systems in different implementation scenarios are studied, including opaque building integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) systems coupled with a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) in a curtain wall construction (where the photovoltaic panels form the external cladding of the building envelope and the heat captured by the airflow behind the cladding is used in preheating the HRV), BIPV cladding integrated with wood-frame construction, and semitransparent photovoltaic (STPV) glazing units (double pane insulated glazing units forming the exterior glazing of the building envelope). The key parameters evaluated are thermal efficiency, energy generation, sensible recovery efficiency (SRE) and supply air outlet temperature increase ΔT_(SA,HRV) when coupled with HRV, the moisture content in wood frame construction for opaque BIPV building envelopes, and solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) for STPV glazing units. Field measurements were performed for these implementation scenarios to characterize their performance and were compared to simulations. Although the simplified approaches used in this thesis to model their performance through simulation have limitations in their ability to reflect field operating conditions, the field measurements and hygrothermal modeling results show that BIPV systems in these scenarios can perform better than conventional building components.