Recent advances in direct solar thermal power generation

Abstract

The recent energy crisis and environmental burden are becoming increasingly urgent and drawing enormous attention to solar-energy utilization. Direct solar thermal power generation technologies, such as thermoelectric, thermionic, magnetohydrodynamic, and alkali-metal thermoelectric methods, are among the most attractive ways to provide electric energy from solar heat. On the one hand, these methods have the potential to be more efficient than traditional ways since they can convert heat to electricity directly without experiencing the conventional intermediate mechanical energy conversion process; on the other hand, these electricity generators are generally silent, reliable, and scalable, making them very suitable to serve as a distributed power generation system for certain specialized fields, such as military and space applications. A lot of effort has been devoted to investigate the energy conversion theory and practical applications thus far. This paper is intended to present a thorough review on recent advances in developing the thermoelectric, thermionic, magnetohydrodynamic, and alkali-metal thermoelectric technologies for direct solar thermal power generation. Both the fundamental issues and latest application research are illustrated and critical issues are discussed. The paper concludes with a description of future developments expected in the subjects covered.

Energy Analyses of Thermoelectric Renewable Energy Sources

“…Although recent developments in nanotechnology have helped to improve the efficiency of the thermoelectric generators, they are not yet competitive with other electrical energy generation technologies from the efficiency perspective. Thermoelectric efficiency of these generators has generally been limited to about 5% -6% [2,21,24]. However, they are easy to operate, compact, longerlived, and require low maintenance cost.…”

“…Therefore, a lot of effort has been expended to combine the PV and thermoelectric technology in an efficient and powerful way. Most of these inventions are focused on the structure design [24]. Micallef [38] presented a Seebeck solar cell device, in which the materials used to form conductors in the n-type and p-type regions of the cells were chosen for their different thermoelectric characteristics.…”

“…Efforts have been devoted to investigate the thermoelectric power conversion theory and practical applications. These efforts have been under way from the following four aspects [24]: 1) Maximizing the temperature difference between two sides of thermoelectric devices by increasing the heat flow through thermoelectric devices with methods such as raising the solar concentration ratio. 2) Enhancing material thermoelectric characteristic.…”

Explore Novel Renewable Energy Generation via Applications of Thermoelectric Technology

“…Extensive the research and development has been dedicated to renewable energy technologies (Brass, Carley, MacLean, & Baldwin, 2012;Clark III, 2010) by scientists and engineers. Intense studies are conducted both theoretically and experimentally (Chen, 2011;Deng & Liu, 2009;Tritt & Subramanian, 2006) on the promising solid-state solar thermal electric generation. Moreover, there are extensive researches recently dedicated to study the thermoelectric power generation (TEPG) in producing power ranges from small to large.…”

Systematic Studies on Building the High Output Thermoelectric Power Generation

“…Extensive studies are conducted both theoretically and experimentally [3][4][5] on the promising solid-state solar thermal electric generation. Moreover, there are extensive researches recently dedicated to study the thermoelectric power generation (TEPG) in producing power ranges from small to large.…”