Performance evaluation of a thermoelectric ventilation system driven by the concentrated photovoltaic thermoelectric generators for green building operations

Abstract

This paper proposed one novel Thermo-Electric Ventilation (TEV) system driven by the concentrated photovoltaic-thermoelectric generator (CPV-TEG), which could use the electric power converted directly from solar energy by CPV-TEG. The effects of incident solar irradiance, number of thermoelectric generators, and ambient air temperatures on the power output of CPV-TEG have been analytically investigated through energy balance and first law of thermodynamics. Furthermore, input current and number of thermoelectric coolers were sensitively varied to optimize the performance of TEV system respectively in heating and cooling modes. Finally, an integrated theoretical and numerical approach was proposed to match the power output of CPV-TEG with the power input of TEV. Modeling results indicate that the output power from CPV-TEG could satisfy the energy demand of TEV system when the input currents of thermoelectric coolers were no more than 2.5 A and 2.8 A respectively for cooling and heating modes. Minimum energy and exergy efficiencies of the system in winter heating mode were confirmed to be 1.67 and 0.24 respectively, which were far higher than that in summer cooling mode. This research may be helpful for enhancing performance and reducing exergy destruction of thermoelectric ventilation system, simultaneously.