Abstract
Photovoltaics (PVs) are an effective technology to harvest the solar energy and satisfy the increasing global electricity demand. The effectiveness and life span of PVs could be enhanced by enabling effective thermal management. The conversion efficiency and surface temperature of PVs have an inverse relationship, and hence the cooling of PVs as an emerging body of work needs to have attention paid to it. The integration of a thermoelectric generator (TEG) to PVs is one of the widely applied thermal management techniques to improve the performance of PVs as well as combined systems. The TEG utilizes the waste heat of PVs and generate the additional electric power output. The nanofluid enables superior thermal properties compared to that of conventional cooling fluids, and therefore the performance of photovoltaic/thermal–thermoelectric generator (PV/T-TEG) systems with nanofluid cooling is further enhanced compared to that of conventional cooling. The TEG enables a symmetrical temperature difference with a hot side due to the heat from PVs, and a cold side due to the nanofluid cooling. Therefore, the symmetrical thermal management system, by integrating the PV/T, TEG, and nanofluid cooling, has been widely adopted in recent times. The present review comprehensively summarizes various experimental, numerical, and theoretical research works conducted on PV/T-TEG systems with nanofluid cooling. The research studies on PV/T-TEG systems with nanofluid cooling were reviewed, focusing on the time span of 2015–2021. This review elaborates the various approaches and advancement in techniques adopted to enhance the performance of PV/T-TEG systems with nanofluid cooling. The application of TEG with nanofluid cooling in the thermal management of PVs is an emerging research area; therefore, this comprehensive review can be considered as a reference for future development and innovations.
Highlights
Owing to the development in industries, populace, and innovations, the global energy demand continuously increases at the faster rate
The thermoelectric generator (TEG) is integrated with PVs to improve the overall performance and thermal management of the PVs
PV/T-TEGsystem, system,the the electrical power output was higher compared to the concentrated electrical power output was 7.46% higher compared to the concentrated PV/T system.The
Summary
Owing to the development in industries, populace, and innovations, the global energy demand continuously increases at the faster rate. Thermal energy from the sun has been utilized to generate the electricity using the PV effect. PVs can only convert 17–18% of available thermal energy from sun to electricity [5]. Numerous research studies have been conducted on integrated systems of PV/T-TEGs. The researchers have summarized these research studies in various reviews. Few research works have been implemented on PV/T-TEG systems with nanofluid cooling; there is no review to summarize these research works and elaborate the key findings. The present review summarizes the various experimental, numerical, and theoretical research works on PV/T-TEG systems with nanofluid cooling. The recent research works conducted on performance enhancement of PV/T-TEG systems during the time period of 2015–2021 are comprehensively summarized in the present review.
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