Performance estimation of photovoltaic–thermoelectric hybrid systems

Jin Zhang, Yimin Xuan and Lili Yang

Energy, 2014, vol. 78, issue C, 895-903

Abstract: A theoretical model for evaluating the efficiency of concentrating PV–TE (photovoltaic–thermoelectric) hybrid system is developed in this paper. Hybrid systems with different photovoltaic cells are studied, including crystalline silicon photovoltaic cell, silicon thin-film photovoltaic cell, polymer photovoltaic cell and copper indium gallium selenide photovoltaic cell. The influence of temperature on the efficiency of photovoltaic cell has been taken into account based on the semiconductor equations, which reveals different efficiency temperature characteristic of polymer photovoltaic cells. It is demonstrated that the polycrystalline silicon thin-film photovoltaic cell is suitable for concentrating PV–TE hybrid system through optimization of the convection heat transfer coefficient and concentrating ratio. The polymer photovoltaic cell is proved to be suitable for non-concentrating PV–TE hybrid system.

Keywords: Thermoelectric conversion; Photovoltaic module; Hybrid system; Solar energy utilization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (33)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:78:y:2014:i:c:p:895-903

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2014.10.087

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