An experimental study of the concentrator photovoltaic/thermoelectric generator performance using different passive cooling methods

Farouk Badr, Ali Radwan, Mahmoud Ahmed and Ahmed M. Hamed

Renewable Energy, 2022, vol. 185, issue C, 1078-1094

Abstract: Conducting an outdoor experimental investigation of a hybrid concentrator photovoltaics (CPV)/thermoelectric generators (TEG) system's performance is of great importance. It provides a reliable performance characteristic, as it is carried out under real solar spectral and atmospheric conditions. In the current work, a multi-junction solar cell subjected to a solar concentration ratio of 50 suns using different passive cooling methods has been investigated. To perform outdoor experiments, the solar cell integrated with a heat sink (HS) and a dual-axis elliptic solar tracker is used with a Fresnel lens-based concentrator. Several configurations are experimentally investigated including CPV-HS combined with a finned HS, TEG-HS, CPV-TEG-HS, and CPV-TEG-micro-channel heat pipe (MCHP)-HS. Results show a significant enhancement in the CPV-TEG-MCHP-HS power compared to alternate systems. At direct normal irradiance of 990 W/m2, the output power is about 1.14 Watt. However, the output power for CPV-HS, and CPV-TEG is about 1.1 W, and 1.05 W, respectively. The CPV cell and TEG areas were 1 cm2 and 16 cm2, respectively. In addition, the electrical efficiency of CPV system and CPV-TEG hybrid system is 26%, and 22.84%, respectively. However, the electrical efficiency of hybrid CPV/MCHP/TEG is 28.45%.

Keywords: Solar energy; Concentrator photovoltaics; Multi-junction solar cell; Thermoelectric generator; Micro-channel heat pipe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:185:y:2022:i:c:p:1078-1094

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.12.080

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