Thermal and electrical performance of a hybrid design of a solar-thermoelectric system

•Hybrid solar-thermoelectric system studied under outdoor conditions.•Electrical output voltage and hot water temperatures peaked around 15.30.•Total electrical efficiency was very low, about 0.16% at around 15.30h. An evacuated tube heat pipe solar collector was fitted with four thermoelectric modu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy conversion and management 2017-02, Vol.133, p.31-40
Main Authors: Ong, K.S., Naghavi, M.S., Lim, Christopher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquaporins
Capacitors
Channels
Cooling
Electricity generation
Evacuation systems
Flow channels
Flow rates
Heat
Heat pipe
Hot water
Liquid cooling
Pipes
Power generation
Solar collectors
Solar water heater
Thermoelectric
Thermoelectricity
Viability
Water flow
Water heaters
Water heating
Water storage
Water temperature
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Summary:•Hybrid solar-thermoelectric system studied under outdoor conditions.•Electrical output voltage and hot water temperatures peaked around 15.30.•Total electrical efficiency was very low, about 0.16% at around 15.30h. An evacuated tube heat pipe solar collector was fitted with four thermoelectric modules and four water cooling jackets on the condenser side to produce electricity and hot water simultaneously. Each cooling jacket had six mini water-flow channels inside it. Solar heat was absorbed and collected by the evaporator section. Experiments were conducted under outdoor environment with various water coolant flow rates. Once-through coolant water flow was adopted as a first step. Further investigations would be conducted to incorporate an insulated hot water storage tank to evaluate the system economic viability as a power producer and hot water generator. Temperatures were recorded along the evaporator and condenser sections of the heat pipe, thermoelectric junction temperatures and inlet/outlet water channels. This paper presents the experimental results obtained. Typical daily experimental results showed that electrical output voltage and hot water temperatures peaked around 15.30 before decreasing towards the evening. Total electrical efficiency was very low, about 0.16% at around 15.30h.
ISSN:0196-8904
1879-2227
DOI:10.1016/j.enconman.2016.11.052