Thermoelectric Material Transport Properties-Based Performance Analysis of a Concentrated Photovoltaic-Thermoelectric System

A concentrated photovoltaic-thermoelectric (CPV-TE) hybrid system, if operated properly, can generate higher output power than a stand-alone concentrated photovoltaic system, due to the contribution of a thermoelectric generator in the system. Herein, to understand the effect of the transport properties of thermoelectric (TE) materials on the hybrid system, a figure of merit-based analysis is conducted. The results reveal that the output performance of the TE module can be enhanced by almost 100% when the value of the dimensionless figure of merit increases from 1 to 2. Moreover, at higher concentration ratios, the output power of the TE module with an average figure of merit of 2 can exceed that of the photovoltaic cell. Under the same circumstances, the energy efficiency of the hybrid system increases with an increase in the concentration ratio. Furthermore, the output performance of the CPV-TE hybrid system can be improved if TE materials with very low thermal conductivity are used.