Abstract
Although photovoltaic-thermoelectric generator hybrid systems (PV-TEG) are intended to increase the power generation in solar photovoltaic systems, the attachment of TEG can negatively affect the temperature distribution in PV cells. Therefore, a numerical model is developed in this paper to research the effects of TEG on the performance of hybrid PV-TEG systems. Nine hybrid systems are considered including PV-TEG with three types of TEG modules in two different arrangements, as well as a multijunction concentrating photovoltaic cell (CPV) combined with TEG modules (CPV-TEG). The resulting temperature distribution and power generation are discussed in different cooling conditions and concentration ratios. The effects of TEG type and arrangement, heat transfer coefficient, and concentration ratio are scrutinized. The present results show that only two systems achieve a marginal performance improvement in certain conditions, compared to their equivalent PV systems with the same cooling condition. The maximum performance improvement of 0.57% corresponds to C-49 CPV-TEG system, while the maximum negative effect is 3.04% for C-71. A one-day transient simulation is also provided for two selected systems. It is revealed that the overall daily performance is almost unchanged in the PV-TEG system, while the CPV-TEG system performs better if a weaker cooling system is utilized.
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