Design and Perfromance Characteristics of a Portable Solar-Driven Thermoelectric Heat Pump under Thunder Bay Extreme Cold Conditions in Northwestern Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Renewable & alternative non-conventional green energy technologies used for heat-pumping applications have shown real merits and received renewed interest in recent years especially in small-scale portable heating applications. Solar-driven thermoelectric heat pumping is one of these innovative technologies. In this paper, a thermoelectric heat pump that utilizes the Peltier effect has been designed, constructed and instrumented for suitable experimentation and characterization under Thunder Bay city extreme cold weather conditions in Canada. The thermoelectric test setup is powered using a renewable solar photovoltaic system and tested under different operating conditions. It was found that the PV-powered thermoelectric heat pump system has shown an acceptable performance with COP ranging from 0.98-1.22. Typical results showed that the average heat pumping power for the system was 72.1 W when the system was operated at an ambient temperature of-17 o C with an inside system temperature increased from approximately-5 o C to 25 o C.

Design and Performance Characteristics of a Hybrid Photovoltaic-Thermal Regeneration System under Indoor and Outdoor Solar Radiation Conditions of Thunder Bay, Ontario

“…In their HPV-TEG system's design, they used a flat PV panel and reported an improvement in the system's efficiency and power generation output. A hybrid PV solar and thermoelectric (HPV-TEG) system for direct power generation was also experimentally characterized by Ismail and Bujold [10] under indoor and outdoor Thunder Bay's solar radiation and climate conditions. Their [10] investigation shows that the HPV-TEG system provided more DC power than the traditional PV system while operating at higher irradiance intensities and lower TEG's inlet coolant temperatures.…”

“…A hybrid PV solar and thermoelectric (HPV-TEG) system for direct power generation was also experimentally characterized by Ismail and Bujold [10] under indoor and outdoor Thunder Bay's solar radiation and climate conditions. Their [10] investigation shows that the HPV-TEG system provided more DC power than the traditional PV system while operating at higher irradiance intensities and lower TEG's inlet coolant temperatures. The findings from the indoor testing and IR thermal images demonstrated this.…”

“…According to their indoor experiments, the HPV-TEG system's design optimization is essential to be a competitive alternative to traditional PV systems. However, their [10] outdoor experiments contrasted the HPV-TEG system's performance traits with those of a typical PV module in a range of weather-operating conditions. According to their findings, the HPV-TEG system produced about 5% more electrical power during outdoor tests than the traditional PV module.…”

“…Furthermore, it was found in their research that the HPV-TEG system's ability to produce more electrical power was primarily due to its ability to lower the temperature of the PV modules. The integration of the TEG was found to have contributed up to 23% of the hybrid system's overall additional electrical power output [10].…”

Performance Characteristics of A Simulated Hybrid Solar-Photovoltaic-Thermoelectric System for Renewable and Direct Power Generation Applications

“…TEG devices (modules) are a solid-state, reliable technology with no moving parts, and thus are silent in operation. They are also position independent, environmentally friendly, and very safe to use [2,3]. Once coupled with PV modules, TEG modules have the innovative capability to convert a portion of the waste heat thermal energy dissipated from PV modules (due to their relatively high temperature), thus cooling them, and simultaneously generate additional power.…”