Performance Study of a Double-Pass Thermoelectric Solar Air Collector with Flat-Plate Reflectors

Abstract

In this paper the results of the influence of flat-plate reflectors made of aluminum foil on the performance of a double-pass thermoelectric (TE) solar air collector are presented. The proposed TE solar collector with reflectors was composed of transparent glass, an air gap, an absorber plate, TE modules, a rectangular fin heat sink, and two flat-plate reflectors. The flat-plate reflectors were placed on two sides of the TE solar collector (east and west directions). The TE solar collector was installed on a one-axis sun-tracking system to obtain high solar radiation. Direct and reflected incident solar radiation heats up the absorber plate so that a temperature difference is created across the TE modules to generate a direct current. Only a small part of the absorbed solar radiation is converted to electricity, while the rest increases the temperature of the absorber plate. Ambient air flows through the heat sink located in the lower channel to gain heat. The heated air then flows to the upper channel, where it receives additional heating from the absorber plate. Improvements to the thermal energy and electrical power outputs of the system can be achieved by the use of the double-pass collector system with reflectors and TE technology. It was found that the optimum position of the reflectors is 60°, which gave significantly higher thermal energy and electrical power outputs compared with the TE solar collector without reflectors.