Comprehensive Review of Methods and Instruments for Photovoltaic–Thermoelectric Generator Hybrid System Characterization

Petru Adrian Cotfas and Daniel Tudor Cotfas
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Petru Adrian Cotfas: Department of Electronics and Computers, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500036 Brasov, Romania
Daniel Tudor Cotfas: Department of Electronics and Computers, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500036 Brasov, Romania

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-32

Abstract: Finding new sustainable energy sources or improving the efficiencies of the existing ones represents a very important research and development direction. The hybridization approach is one solution for increasing the efficiency of the existing energy sources. In the case of photovoltaic technology, the hybridization of the photovoltaic panels (PV) with thermoelectric generators (TEGs) has become a more interesting solution for the research community in the last decade. Thus, a comprehensive review of the characterization methods and instruments used in PV-TEG hybrid system study represents the objective of this work. PV and TEG equivalent circuits are presented. The instruments and software applications used for the measurements and simulations are presented and analyzed. The analysis of the literature reveals that there are many papers that offer partial or no information about the instruments used or about the measurement quality (accuracies, uncertainties, etc.). In hybrid system modeling, the preferred software applications are MATLAB (MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA) and COMSOL Multiphysics (Comsol, Burlington, MA, USA), while for experimental studies based on computers, LabVIEW (NI, Austin, TX, USA) is preferred. This review work could be interesting for researchers and engineers who are interested in finding solutions for characterizing or monitoring hybrid system components, but it is not limited to these.

Keywords: hybrid system; thermoelectric generator; photovoltaic; I–V characteristics; Internet of Things (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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