Thermal- Electrical Model of Concentrated Photovoltaic-Thermoelectric Generator Combined System for Energy Generation

This paper demonstrates the electric energy generation of a concentrated combined PV cell and a thermoelectric generator TEG system based on solar spectrum splitting. The full spectrum is divided into two parts; bandgap-spectrum (350 nm-1100 nm) which is transferred to the solar cell and the above bandgap spectrum (1100 nm-4000 nm) which is transferred to the TEG. An evaluation of the thermal and electrical performance of the concentrated combined PV - TEG concept was performed. Temperature and efficiency of the solar cell are evaluated in terms of concentration for full and splitted spectrum. Full spectrum illuminated PV cell efficiency is decreased in high concentration levels due to the high temperature values. The combined system efficiency is higher than in case of standalone PV and TEG subsystems. The heat sink affects the concentrated combined PV - TEG system where increasing the heat transfer coefficient increases the combined system overall efficiency.