Electric Power Generation from Thermoelectric Cells Using a Solar Dish Concentrator

Fan, Hongnan; Singh, Randeep; Akbarzadeh, Aliakbar

doi:10.1007/s11664-011-1625-x

Cited by 58 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…A 4.6% peak efficiency of a high thermal concentration solar flat-panel TEG system under a thermal concentration ratio of 299 kW/m 2 and global air mass of 1.5 has been reported by other work [10]. Others [11] have tested a solar parabolic dish concentrator along with a TEG system that was able to produce electric power up to 5.9 W under a temperature difference between the hot and cold sides of 35 • C with the hot-side temperature being at 68 • C. A three-dimensional finite-element model considering a solar thermoelectric device system has been carried out, and it suggested that total efficiency could reach 9.95% if the contact resistance and all heat losses are neglected [12]. A model has been developed and simulated by others considering a thermoelectric cooling module attached to the back side of a PV cell, assuming that the required power to run such a module is provided by the PV cell itself.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Concentrated Photovoltaic/Thermal Hybrid System Coupled with a Thermoelectric Generator

2019

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Concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems have displayed an important cost reduction and in the next few years could offer a competitive cost advantage compared to that of flat plate PV systems. Such CPV systems require some cooling methods to overcome high operating temperatures, which reduces their efficiency significantly. On the other hand, thermoelectric generators (TEG) are devices that convert thermal energy directly to electrical energy, provided that there is a temperature difference between its two faces. A hybrid concentrator photovoltaic/thermal (CPV/T) system is proposed in this work. Such a system uses TEG in a two-fold manner: to passively cool down the CPV cell in order to maintain its power conversion efficiency in such high temperature conditions, and to use the accumulated thermal energy to generate electrical energy, which is added to the system’s total power output. Two types of solar cells were investigated, namely, Ga0.35In0.65P/Ga0.83In0.17As with efficiency an of 28% at 250X, and a Laser Grooved Buried Contact (LGBC) silicon concentrator PV cell with an efficiency of 18.3% at 40X. These cells are assumed to be coupled with two TEGs of the same type but with a different number of junctions. Experimental results showed that coupling TEG modules to a CPV system could be a useful method for enhancing the overall output power, provided that PV cells are chosen with a low efficiency temperature coefficient and high PV performance. Also, TEG modules have to be chosen with a high figure of merit. Moreover, the operating optical concentration ratio, as well as the covered area of the TEG, have to be optimized in order to maximize the total system output.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Concentrated Photovoltaic/Thermal Hybrid System Coupled with a Thermoelectric Generator

2019

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“…Various methods are used for the fabrication of modern thermoelectric microsensors (e.g., temperature [12,13], heat flux [14,15], thermal insolation [15,16,17], laser power [1,18,19], Seebeck nanoantennas for solar energy harvesting [20] or calorimeters [21]) and microgenerators [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,10,22,23,24,25,26,27]—classical semiconductor technology and silicon micromachining [1], volume micromachining [1,5,6,9,25] (where, for example, vapor phase soldering is used to improve solder joint quality and reliability of the various microgenerator parts [28]), plasma spraying and laser patterning [29,30], thin-film deposition (evaporation, magnetron sputtering, electrochemical deposition) [3,8,24,25,31], thick-film technology (planar, 3D, on flexible substrates, alumina or LTCC ones) [2,4,6,7,10,11,12,13,22,26,32,33,34,35]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermoelectric Mixed Thick-/Thin Film Microgenerators Based on Constantan/Silver

2018

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This paper describes the design, manufacturing and characterization of newly developed mixed thick-/thin film thermoelectric microgenerators based on magnetron sputtered constantan (copper-nickel alloy) and screen-printed silver layers. The thermoelectric microgenerator consists of sixteen thermocouples made on a 34.2 × 27.5 × 0.25 mm3 alumina substrate. One of thermocouple arms was made of magnetron-sputtered constantan (Cu-Ni alloy), the second was a Ag-based screen-printed film. The length of each thermocouple arm was equal to 27 mm, and their width 0.3 mm. The distance between the arms was equal to 0.3 mm. In the first step, a pattern mask with thermocouples was designed and fabricated. Then, a constantan layer was magnetron sputtered over the whole substrate, and a photolithography process was used to prepare the first thermocouple arms. The second arms were screen-printed onto the substrate using a low-temperature silver paste (Heraeus C8829A or ElectroScience Laboratories ESL 599-E). To avoid oxidation of constantan, they were fired in a belt furnace in a nitrogen atmosphere at 550/450 °C peak firing temperature. Thermoelectric and electrical measurements were performed using the self-made measuring system. Two pyrometers included into the system were used for temperature measurement of hot and cold junctions. The estimated Seebeck coefficient, α was from the range 35 − 41 µV/K, whereas the total internal resistances R were between 250 and 3200 ohms, depending on magnetron sputtering time and kind of silver ink (the resistance of a single thermocouple was between 15.5 and 200 ohms).

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“…Fan et al [32] presented design details, theoretical analysis, and outcomes of a preliminary experimental investigation on a concentrator thermoelectric generator (CTEG) utilizing solar thermal energy. The designed CTEG system consisted of a parabolic dish collector with an aperture diameter of 1.8 m used to concentrate sunlight onto a copper receiver plate with 260 mm diameter.…”

Section: Solar Thermoelectric Power Generation (Steg)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Analyses of Thermoelectric Renewable Energy Sources

Jarman¹,

Khalil²,

Khalaf³

2013

OJEE

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The recent energy crisis and environmental burden are becoming increasingly urgent and drawing enormous attention to solar-energy utilization. Direct solar thermal power generation technologies, such as, thermoelectric, thermionic, magneto hydrodynamic, and alkali-metal thermoelectric methods, are among the most attractive ways to provide electric energy from solar heat. Direct solar thermal power generation has been an attractive electricity generation technology using a concentrator to gather solar radiation on a heat collector and then directly converting heat to electricity through a thermal electric conversion element. Compared with the traditional indirect solar thermal power technology utilizing a steam-turbine generator, the direct conversion technology can realize the thermal to electricity conversion without the conventional intermediate mechanical conversion process. The power system is, thus, easy to extend, stable to operate, reliable, and silent, making the method especially suitable for some small-scale distributed energy supply areas. Also, at some occasions that have high requirements on system stability, long service life, and noiselessness demand, such as military and deep-space exploration areas, direct solar thermal power generation has very attractive merit in practice. At present, the realistic conversion efficiency of direct solar thermal power technology is still not very high, mainly due to material restriction and inconvenient design. However, from the energy conversion aspect, there is no conventional intermediate mechanical conversion process in direct thermal power conversion, which therefore guarantees the enormous potential of thermal power efficiency when compared with traditional indirect solar thermal power technology [1].

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Electric Power Generation from Thermoelectric Cells Using a Solar Dish Concentrator

Cited by 58 publications

References 18 publications

Concentrated Photovoltaic/Thermal Hybrid System Coupled with a Thermoelectric Generator

Concentrated Photovoltaic/Thermal Hybrid System Coupled with a Thermoelectric Generator

Thermoelectric Mixed Thick-/Thin Film Microgenerators Based on Constantan/Silver

Energy Analyses of Thermoelectric Renewable Energy Sources

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