Exergy analysis of a novel concentrated photovoltaic-thermoelectric system

Exergy analysis of a thermodynamic system is carried out to identify sources, causes and magnitude of both reversible and irreversible losses and its usefulness as a tool in improving the performance of a system. Herein, an exergy analysis of a novel concentrated photovoltaic-thermoelectric system is presented. Results showed that losses increase with increase in the optical concentration ratio and at high optical concentration ratio; it is more beneficial to lower the efficiency temperature coefficient than to increase the energy conversion efficiency of the photovoltaic system.