Журнал прикладного машиностроения

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Modeling and Simulation of High-Performance Solar Thermoelectric Generator

Hadi Ali Madkhali, Ho-Sung Lee

A new and optimum design of a STEG has been developed for attaining an increased efficiency of 21.6%. The new design consists of three cascaded thermoelectric materials. In addition, it includes two glass panes, a selective solar absorber, two radiation shields, and forced air cooling system. The design is modeled theoretically and numerically using ANSYS software.

Nomenclature: Area of the absorber (A_a); The cross-sectional area of the thermoelectric elements (A_e); Cross sectional area of thermoelement (A_p, A_n); Optical concentration (C_opt); Thermal concentration (C_th); Direct current (DC); Thermal conductivity (W/mk) (k); Thermal Conductivity for p-type and n-type (K_p, K_n); Leg length (L); Number of thermocouples (n); Heat flux (q); Rate of heat liberated at the cold junction (Q_c); Rate of heat absorbed at the hot junction (Q_b); Internal electrical resistance (R); Load resistance (R_L); Internal electrical resistance for p-type and n-type (R_p, R_n); Solar thermoelectric generator (STEG); Thermoelectric generator (Teg); Voltage (V); Power output (W); Figure of merit with unit of (1/k) (Z); Seebeck coefficient with unit of (μV/K) (Α); Absorptivity (Α_a); Junction temperatures (T_h,c,1,2,3,4); Emissivity (Ε); Stefan constant (σ); Transmissivity of the glass (Τ_g); Thomson coefficient (τ); Electrical resistivity (Ω cm) (ρ)