Performance evaluation of the hybrid photovoltaic-thermoelectric system with light and heat management

Abstract

With the advance of light and heat management in photovoltaic field, the photovoltaic efficiency has been significantly improved. In this work, the hybrid photovoltaic-thermoelectric systems with different glass cover coatings are developed to investigate the performance improvement with light and heat management. The results indicate that selective coating can improve the power generation of the system by about 14%, while the values for self-assembled SiO2 coating and antireflection coating are 0.8% and 1.3%, respectively. Additionally, the impact factor analysis reveals that atmospheric humidity has little impact on the performance of the system, while ambient temperature, wind speed and concentration ratio play the critical role on the power generation. And the results of the operation modeling in clear and cloud days highlight that selective coating can help achieve a significantly greater power generation than that with ordinary glass. Furthermore, antireflection coating and self-assembled SiO2 coating can still improve the power generation of the hybrid system slightly. Additionally, self-assembled SiO2 coating achieves a payback period less than three years, while the values of antireflection coating and selective coating are less than four years and about five years, respectively. Our work provides a novel avenue to improve the performance of the hybrid system.