All photovoltaic panel heats up when exposed to sunlight and this heating reduces the electrical power output of the same. This work presents the use of this unwanted waste heat, converting it into thermal energy directly by means of the Seebeck effect, which is the direct conversion of thermal energy into electrical energy by means of an arrangement of semiconductor materials that when exposed to temperature gradients generate electric current. In this work emphasis was placed on the influence of temperature on generation processes involved. Thus, the theoretical evaluation, it presents the mathematical models of thermoelectric and photovoltaic systems by raising the curves of voltage, current and electric power generated, and analyses the influence of temperature in each model. To obtain the simulation curves it uses MATLAB ® 5.3, taking into account the parameters of thermoelectric modules and real photovoltaic cells. In practical evaluation, a prototype was assembled containing thermoelectric module attached to the bottom of a photovoltaic panel in order to use the heat energy absorbed by the panel. The data were stored and analyzed, where we observed the influence of temperature in both systems, validating the mathematical modeling. It is the applicability of the mathematical model given the results obtained with the prototype system.

This paper studies the optimization of a thermoelectric cooling system of air. Based on both results obtained experimentally and from a mathematical model, we evaluated the available features of thermoelectric modules and parameters subject to optimization. In the thermoelectric cooling air process based on the effect discovered by Jean Peltier Charles Athanase in 1834, when an electrical current is conducted through a semiconductor junction between two materials with different properties, heat is absorbed and dissipated. Thermoelectric modules are made of semiconductor materials and sealed between two plates. According to the shape of the plate, the current flow cools the one hand and the other is heated. The most important parameters to evaluate the efficiency of the thermoelectric cooling is the coefficient of performance, the rate of heat transfer and temperature difference between the maximum possible to the cold and hot sides of the thermoelectric module. In this evaluation were used thermoelectric modules and heat sinks, commercially available temperature sensors and a software for obtaining, storing and comparing the data. The prototype auxiliary allows the surface temperatures of thermoelectric modules of the hot and cold sides, the air inlet and outlet temperatures of the heat sink sides of the hot and cold air flow, the voltage and the electrical current to be applied to the modules. A simulation is performed using two air flows at a speed controlled for the hot and cold sides of the module and a set of tests for various modules, i.e. one, two, three and four coupled in parallel. Using this system, the performance data is analyzed making it possible to check the power, voltage and electrical current to maximize the coefficient of performance of the system.