scholarly journals Performance of a Thermoelectric Generator Partially Illuminated with Highly Concentrated Light

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 3627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelrahman Lashin ◽  
Mohammad Al Turkestani ◽  
Mohamed Sabry

In order to maximize the output of concentrator Photovoltaic cells and maintain their efficiencies, the operating temperature of concentrator photovoltaic cells must be reduced. A way that could reduce such photovoltaic temperature is by thermally attaching them on top of a thermoelectric generator. A thermoelectric generator in such coupling will act as a low-cost passive-cooling subsystem, as well as a power generator for producing additional energy from the rejected photovoltaic heat. Increasing the area of the proposed photovoltaic cells relative to the thermoelectric generator’s hot-side area will result in an increase in the thermoelectric generator’s electrical output, but may also result in overheating the photovoltaic cells, hence reducing their performance. Optimization has to be performed for the photovoltaic covering percentage relative to the hot-side area in order to maximize the output of the whole coupled system. This work investigates the electrical and thermal performance of thermoelectric generators in the case of partial illumination of their hot side. Experiments have been carried out using three thermoelectric generator modules with different areas, and under two levels of concentrated illumination. The thermoelectric generator output voltage, current, and temperature have been measured, and the figure-of-merit and maximum power of the thermoelectric generator (TEG) has been calculated and demonstrated.

Author(s):  
Afshin Amoorezaei ◽  
Sayed Ali Khajehoddin ◽  
Nasrin Rezaei ◽  
Kambiz Moez

2000 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.N Bhattacharya ◽  
W Batchelor ◽  
K Ramanathan ◽  
M.A Contreras ◽  
T Moriarty
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  

2015 ◽  
Vol 659 ◽  
pp. 185-189
Author(s):  
Aparporn Sakulkalavek ◽  
Rungnapa Thonglamul ◽  
Rachsak Sakdanuphab

In this study, we investigated a CuAl0.9Fe0.1O2 compound prepared at two different sintering temperatures in order to find out the effect of sintering temperature on the compound's figure of merit of thermoelectric properties. The thermoelectric CuAl0.9Fe0.1O2 compound was prepared from high purity grade Cu2O, Al2O3 and Fe2O3 powders. The mixture of these powders were ground and then pressed with uniaxial pressure into pellets. The pellets obtained were sintered in the air at 1423 K and 1473 K. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns showed a single phase of CuAl0.9Fe0.1O2 with rhombohedral structure, , along with a trace of CuO second phase. Moreover, the XRD peaks of the sample sintered at 1423 K indicated that more Fe3+ atoms replaced Al3+ atoms in this sample than they did in the sample sintered at 1473 K. The average grain size of the CuAl0.9Fe0.1O2 compound prepared increased with increasing sintering temperature, whereas its mean pore size and porosity decreased with increasing sintering temperature. The dispersed small pores markedly decreased the thermal conductivity of the compound, while the Fe3+ substitution of Al3+ increased its electrical conductivity. The highest figure of merit (ZT) found was 0.021 at 973 K in the CuAl0.9Fe0.1O2 sample sintered at 1423 K. Our findings show that this low-cost material with a reasonable figure of merit is a good candidate for thermoelectric applications at high-temperature.


2021 ◽  
Vol MA2021-03 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-35
Author(s):  
Rob Braun ◽  
Gus Floerchinger ◽  
David Wahlstrom ◽  
Neal P. Sullivan ◽  
Tyrone Vincent ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Robert Dell ◽  
Runar Unnthorsson ◽  
C. S. Wei ◽  
William Foley

In small source power generation scenarios in industrial or remote settings a viable small electrical supply for security and monitoring systems is often problematic due to the variability of the energy sources and the stability of the power generated. These small scale systems lack the advantages of a larger power grid. Therefore peak power requirements can be beyond the power generator necessitating energy storage such as batteries. The authors have developed and documented a reliable thermoelectric generator and a test bed. The generator was combined with a battery in order to meet peak power requirements beyond the unassisted range of the generator. This paper presents a test case result with the thermoelectric generator powering a complete web accessible mobile robot system. The robot system can be used for monitoring, physical manipulation of the environment, routine maintenance and in emergencies.


Author(s):  
Allison Gray ◽  
Robert Boehm ◽  
Kenneth W. Stone

Cooling of photovoltaic cells under high intensity solar irradiance is a major concern when designing concentrating photovoltaic systems. The cell temperature will increase if the waste heat is not removed and the cell voltage/power will decrease with increasing cell temperature. This paper presents an analysis of the passive cooling system on the Amonix high concentration photovoltaic system (HCPV). The concentrator geometry is described. A model of the HCPV passive cooling system was made using Gambit. Assumptions are discussed that were made to create the numerical model based on the actual system, the methods for drawing the model is discussed, and images of the model are shown. Fluent was used to compute the numerical results. In addition to the theoretical results that were computed, measurements were made on a system in the field. These data are compared to the theoretical data and differences are calculated. Theoretical conditions that were studied included uniform cell temperatures and worst case weather scenarios, i.e., no wind, high ambient conditions, and high solar irradiance. The performance of the Amonix high concentrating system could be improved if more waste heat were removed from the cell. Now that a theoretical model has been developed and verified, it will be used to investigate different designs and material for increasing the cooling of the system.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khayankhyarvaa Sarangerel ◽  
Altantsetseg Delgerjargal ◽  
Byambasuren Delgertsetseg ◽  
Chimed Ganzorig

ABSTRACTOrganic thin film photovoltaic (PV) cells have attracted attention because of their ease of fabrication and potential for low cost production. In this paper, we study the effects of chemical modification of indium-tin-oxide (ITO) on the performance of organic PV cells. The organic PV cells are fabricated, with the cell configuration of ITO/copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) (20 nm)/fullerene (C60) (40 nm)/Al with and without bathocuproine (BCP) (10 nm) between C60 and Al. By the use of para-substituted benzenesulfonyl chlorides with different terminal groups of H- and Cl-, the energy offset at the ITO/CuPc interface is tuned widely depending upon the interface dipoles and thus the correlation between the change in the ITO work function and the performance of the PV cells by chemical modification is examined.


2012 ◽  
Vol 263-266 ◽  
pp. 1004-1007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Ying Liu ◽  
Yan Huang ◽  
Chun Yu Liu ◽  
Xin Ming Zhang ◽  
Jiu Ru Yang

Optical fiber Raman amplifier (OFRA) with wide and flat gain bandwidth has been widely applied in the fields of optical communication, sensing and measurement. However, the performance optimization is always one of the hot topics in the study of OFRA, because its output characteristics are hardly dependent to some key designing parameters. In this paper, to overcome the problems above, we adopt a spectrum analysis based method to study the output performance of an OFRA system with backward pumping. By simulating the operation of the OFRA system, its output characteristics are first showed easily, with the advantages of real time, low cost, and low complexity. Further, according to the numerical results obtained, the optimal parameters of an OFRA system are determinate, and the performance in terms of output power, signal noise ratio, and the level of gain flatness is improved and optimized obviously.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document