Two novel methods for converting the waste heat of PV modules caused by temperature rise into electric power

Hassan Fathabadi

Renewable Energy, 2019, vol. 142, issue C, 543-551

Abstract: One of the main defects of a photovoltaic (PV) module is that its output power significantly declines when its surface’s temperature increases. In this study, to solve this problem, two novel methods are proposed to compensate the power reduction of a PV module originating from temperature rise by converting the waste heat of the PV module into electric power. The first method utilizes a novel thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) device proposed and constructed in this study, while the second method uses a commercial thermoelectric generator (TEG) module. In the first method, the proposed TREC device has been attached to behind a commercial PV module KC200GT to convert its waste heat caused by temperature rise into electric power, while in the second method, a commercial water cooled TEG module DW-WC-100W has been attached to behind the PV module to convert its waste heat. Based on the two methods, two systems have been constructed, and associated experimental results are presented. The two systems are also compared to each other from different viewpoints. The comparison shows that the TREC device proposed and constructed in this study not only has less cost and weight compared to that of the commercial TEG module, but also significantly produces more power to compensate the power reduction of the PV module, so that, it compensates about 85% of the power reduction at noon, while the commercial TEG module compensates only about 23%. Compensating about 85% of the power reduction of a PV module resulting from temperature rise and constructing a novel TREC device to achieve this goal are the novelty and contributions of this work.

Keywords: Photovoltaic module; Thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle; Thermoelectric generator (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:142:y:2019:i:c:p:543-551

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.04.054

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