Efficiency enhancement of photovoltaic-thermoelectric generator hybrid module by heat dissipating technique

Abstract

Exploring substantial solar irradiation and recuperating excess heat generated during photovoltaic energy conversion is a critical issue. The efficiency of photovoltaic systems (PV) is significantly depend on the increased operating temperatures encountered by solar radiation. One conceivable option for improving the conversion of solar energy is to integrate a photovoltaic (PV) panel with a thermal-electric generator (TEG) material module to create a hybrid system. This study proposed a parallel PV-TEG hybrid module that effectively harvests the maximum solar energy spectrum while maximizing the use of heat generated by the thermoelectric material to improve the overall system efficiency. The proposed module consists of a photovoltaic unit, thermoelectric material module and passive cooling of fluid channels. The aim of this work was to develop a PV-TEG hybrid system and create an energy simulation model in a MATLAB environment to analyze the model's performance under various operational conditions by applying both theoretical and experimental approaches. Findings showed considerable concurrence. At 13:00, when the PV surface temperature was 54 °C, the PV efficiency reached to its lowest value of 12.0 %. Nevertheless, the highest TEG efficiency recorded was 4.7 % at 12:00 h. The efficiency of the TEG module was significantly affected by weather conditions, inlet cooling water temperature, and fluid flow rate in comparison to both the PV efficiency and the thermal efficiency.