Transient behavior of concentrated solar oxide thermoelectric generator

S. Mahmoudinezhad, A. Rezania, P.A. Cotfas, D.T. Cotfas and L.A. Rosendahl

Energy, 2019, vol. 168, issue C, 823-832

Abstract: Solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs) can directly harness solar energy for power generation. Experimental and numerical studies on the transient response of an oxide thermoelectric generator (TEG) to variation of solar radiation in semi-cloudy weather are carried out. In the first phase, performance of a STEG is investigated under variable solar radiation. Furthermore, effect of a self-adhesive graphite sheet attached to the hot surface of the STEG on enhancement of thermal and electrical performance is studied. In order to evaluate the system performance at high solar concentrations and high operation temperatures, numerical simulation is performed using finite volume method (FVM). I-V-P curves for both STEG systems, with and without the graphite sheet, are obtained. Variation of the hot and cold side temperatures of the TEG and maximum output power variations versus the time are presented and discussed. The results show that, the graphite absorber has a substantial effect on the power generation by the TEG by enhancement of absorbed radiation. This impact is more noticeable at higher solar concentrations and higher temperatures.

Keywords: Solar radiation; Solar simulator; Oxide thermoelectric generator; Transient response; Graphite absorber (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544218323673
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:168:y:2019:i:c:p:823-832

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.12.001

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().