Numerical Study of a Phase Change Material Integrated Solar Thermoelectric Generator

Due to the adverse impacts of fossil fuel sources on the environment and human health, research aimed at generating electricity from the sun has gained increased interest. These adverse effects are more pronounced in thirdworld countries, like Nigeria, which rely heavily on fossil fuel sources for power generation. Nevertheless, Nigeria has an abundant supply of solar energy. Thus, the use of solid-state devices, called thermoelectric generators (TEGs), in harvesting solar energy is a very profitable and clean power generation method. However, these devices are characterised by low efficiencies. Previous scholars showed that altering the thermoelectric leg geometry improved device efficiency. It was also demonstrated that using two-stage TEGs improved device performance. Despite the improvements obtained from these recommendations, we notice that a two-stage TEG design that uses an altered/ variable leg geometry configuration has not been designed before. Thus, we present numerical modelling and optimisation of a two-stage TEG with X-leg geometry configuration using isoflux conditions. The optimised parameters are the external load resistance, taper angle of the X-leg and concentration ratio of the solar concentrator. Finally, we consider the effect of using hightemperature materials in a two-stage design.

show abstract

“…The three-dimensional energy and electrical current conservation equations are given as. [32][33][34]…”

Section: Thermoelectric Generatormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The radiative and convective losses on the concentrator top glass cover are accounted for using. 32 T sky = 0:0552T a 1:5…”

Section: Solar Thermoelectric Generatormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Solar power generation using a two‐stage X‐leg thermoelectric generator with high‐temperature materials

2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In numerical analysis with MATLAB, Maduabuchi C.C. et al [41] make a hybrid 3D geometry model to perform STEG.…”

Section: Algorithmic and Numerical In Thermoelectric Devicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of renewable energy sources reduces the greenhouse gases emission and protect from cause global warming. TEG is the most important renewable technology in conversion heat to electrical energy and electric to thermal energy [63].The Seebeck and Peltier effects in TEG help to convert heat energy into electrical energy and can incorporate with a solar, all waste heat recovery, nuclear heat management in power plant [23,26,45,47,65,66,68].The thermoelectric conversation technology can be studied with numerous model for probability distribution, Weibul distribution, lognormal distribution, Seebeck effect, thermal coefficient, Peltier effect, PF and figure of merit [1,2,5,29,31,41,49,53,58,68]. MATLAB is one of the powerful tools to model and optimize all the factors related to TEG, TEC and TEM.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review on recent opportunities in MATLAB software based modelling for thermoelectric applications

Sankar

Moorthy

Ramasamy

et al. 2021

International Journal of Energy Applications and Technologies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The thermoelectric application is one of most popular energy harvesting application from waste heat. The thermoelectric generators, thermoelectric coolers, and thermoelectric modular devices criterion comes in both sustainable energy as well as renewability of electrical energy from waste heat sinks. The recovery operations are optimized with the help of modeling using MATLAB software. The material science based thermoelectric applications can be modeled with the help of MATLAB simulink modeling. The numerical and algorithmic method of MATLAB modeling is for the development of hybrid thermoelectric coolers and generators (solar thermoelectric generators, radiative cooler, heat sinks). Later, the use of MATLAB software gives opportunities to develop the cost effective and high power thermoelectric generators. The emerging commercial device making is also discussed for thermoelectric generator using MATLAB optimization.

show abstract

Effects of Multispectral Absorbing Coating on the Generated Voltage of Solar Radiation–Thermoelectric System

Liu,

Feng,

Shi

et al. 2024

Energy Tech

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The effective utilization of solar energy is an important development direction to realize the exploration of clean energy. Herein, a model of solar radiation–thermoelectric generation (TEG) system is established, which is composed of solar absorbing coating and TEG component. Five different microscopic structures of coating are designed and the spectral absorption properties are numerically analyzed with the finite‐difference time‐domain method. Then, the absorbed solar energy and produced open‐circuit voltage with different coating structures are compared, with the coupling calculation of temperature field and electromagnetic field achieved. Additionally, the effects of structural size parameters on the output voltage performance are discussed. It can be observed that the absorbing coating can effectively improve the performance of TEG component, and the multilayer structure with appropriate gold particle diameter chosen is an optimization research direction for more efficient energy conversion.

show abstract

Numerical Study of a Phase Change Material Integrated Solar Thermoelectric Generator

Cited by 47 publications

References 67 publications

Solar power generation using a two‐stage X‐leg thermoelectric generator with high‐temperature materials

Solar power generation using a two‐stage X‐leg thermoelectric generator with high‐temperature materials

A review on recent opportunities in MATLAB software based modelling for thermoelectric applications

Effects of Multispectral Absorbing Coating on the Generated Voltage of Solar Radiation–Thermoelectric System

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About