Experimental studies on a low concentrating photovoltaic/thermal (LCPV/T) collector with a thermoelectric generator (TEG) module

Zhang, Heng; Yue, Han; Huang, Jiguang; Liang, Kai; Chen, Haiping

Experimental studies on a low concentrating photovoltaic/thermal (LCPV/T) collector with a thermoelectric generator (TEG) module

2021

Zhang, Heng | Yue, Han | Huang, Jiguang | Liang, Kai | Chen, Haiping

This paper presents a low concentrating photovoltaic/thermal (LCPV/T) collector with thermoelectric generator (TEG) which is connected in series. LCPV/T produces heat and electricity while TEG transforms low-grade heat which is gained from LCPV/T into high-grade electricity. In this paper, the mathematical model is built, and the test rig is established to validity the numerical model. The performance of the proposed system under different ambient conditions is studied by test rig with biaxial tracking system. Besides, the effects of environmental parameters, the economic analysis and energy saving of the system in different seasons are also analyzed. The study result shows that the PV/T collector produces the maximum temperature of domestic hot water about 52.96 °C and a daily average electric power of 436.13W with daily average electrical efficiency of 14.34% in summer. By using the TEG module, another 1.68W (2.85‰ of the 436.13W) is generated in summer. In addition, the performance between LCPV/T in series and in parallel is researched. Moreover, the system have the potential of reducing the use of primary energy.

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