Thermodynamic Assessment of a Concentrated Photovoltaic Thermoelectric System

Abstract

In this study, a CPV-TEG system has been assessed by developing a thermodynamic model. Seebeck effect, jointly with Thomson effect, Fourier heat conductive and Joule effects have been considered and simulated in MATLAB. The temperature of the photovoltaic module and the colder and hotter junctions of the thermoelectric generator have been determined analytically by solving energy balance equations iteratively. Observations regarding the effect of concentration ratio, the figure of merit, thermocouple numbers, irradiance, on the power at the output of the system have been made. The efficiencies of the photovoltaic module, thermoelectric generator, and the hybrid system have been measured. Considering Thomson effect in TEG, it can be observed that the power obtained at the output of CPV-TEG is reduced by some percentage at CR=1 and CR=5 respectively. The reduction of power at the output of the TEG module is more than the hybrid system. This analysis provides insight for designing of non-theoretical CPV-TEG systems.