TY - JOUR

T1 - Improved energy conversion performance of a novel design of concentrated photovoltaic system combined with thermoelectric generator with advance cooling system

AU - Lekbir, A.

AU - Hassani, S.

AU - Ab Ghani, M.R.

AU - Gan, C.K.

AU - Mekhilef, S.

AU - Saidur, Rahman

N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Energy Conversion and Management. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Energy Conversion and Management, 177, 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.enconman.2018.09.053

PY - 2018/12/1

Y1 - 2018/12/1

N2 - Most of the incident solar energy on a PV panel is converted into waste heat. This consequently reduces the efficiency of PV system. Therefore, if certain portion of this waste heat can be utilized adding a thermoelectric generator (TEG) in the PV panel endowed by an efficient cooling system, the output performance of the system can be improved significantly. In this study, a new configuration of nanofluid-based PV/T-TEG hybrid system with cooling channel is proposed to convert certain portion of waste heat to electrical energy in order to improve the overall efficiency of hybrid system. Thus, the nanofluid acts as a coolant and absorbs the heat from the back side of TEG module raising its gradient of temperature, as well as the overall performance of the system. Through a numerical modelling approach, performance of the proposed innovative design has been investigated and compared with the conventional solar-harvesting technology systems. At the optimum value of solar concentration C, and maximum operating temperature of 35°C, the obtained results reveal that the electrical energy in NCPV/T-TEG configuration has been found higher by 10%, 47.7% and 49.5% against NCPV/T, CPV and CPV/TEG-HS systems, respectively. Overall, the proposed design of NCPV/T-TEG hybrid system has potential for further development in high-concentration solar systems. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd

AB - Most of the incident solar energy on a PV panel is converted into waste heat. This consequently reduces the efficiency of PV system. Therefore, if certain portion of this waste heat can be utilized adding a thermoelectric generator (TEG) in the PV panel endowed by an efficient cooling system, the output performance of the system can be improved significantly. In this study, a new configuration of nanofluid-based PV/T-TEG hybrid system with cooling channel is proposed to convert certain portion of waste heat to electrical energy in order to improve the overall efficiency of hybrid system. Thus, the nanofluid acts as a coolant and absorbs the heat from the back side of TEG module raising its gradient of temperature, as well as the overall performance of the system. Through a numerical modelling approach, performance of the proposed innovative design has been investigated and compared with the conventional solar-harvesting technology systems. At the optimum value of solar concentration C, and maximum operating temperature of 35°C, the obtained results reveal that the electrical energy in NCPV/T-TEG configuration has been found higher by 10%, 47.7% and 49.5% against NCPV/T, CPV and CPV/TEG-HS systems, respectively. Overall, the proposed design of NCPV/T-TEG hybrid system has potential for further development in high-concentration solar systems. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd

KW - Energy conversion

KW - Exergy

KW - Nanofluid

KW - PV/T

KW - Thermoelectric conversion

U2 - 10.1016/j.enconman.2018.09.053

DO - 10.1016/j.enconman.2018.09.053

M3 - Journal article

VL - 177

SP - 19

EP - 29

JO - Energy Conversion and Management

JF - Energy Conversion and Management

SN - 0196-8904

ER -