Feasibility evaluation of a thermoelectrically cooled photovoltaic module at different arrangements and working conditions: A numerical study

Abstract

The performance of photovoltaic (PV) modules decreases due to heating in real working conditions. To test the feasibility of utilizing thermoelectric cooling (TEC) devices for active thermal management of PV modules, different hybrid PV-TEC systems are modeled. A numerical model is developed by finite volume method with an iterative solution procedure proposed to handle the resulting non-linear system of equations. Two different thermoelectric modules are incorporated in various numbers and spacings. Results show that if an optimum electrical current is supplied to the TEC devices, a marginal positive power gain can be obtained in most cases compared to an uncooled PV. However, the value of the optimum current is a function of TEC arrangement and also ambient conditions. The power gain of 1.17 W is observed for an insolation of 1000 W/m2 with 45 thermoelectric modules at 144 mm spacing. In general, increasing insolation and decreasing wind speed result in higher power gains in the hybrid system. The daily performance of the hybrid system with optimum electrical input improves 0.25 % and 0.1 % for a typical summer and winter day respectively, which is found to be inferior to passive cooling with fins for all investigated arrangements.