Performance Analysis on Solar Concentrating Thermoelectric Generator Coupled with Heat Sink

Abstract

The usage of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) is rapidly increasing where the waste heat exists. Today, many experiments are being conducted to investigate solar energy systems with waste heat. This work focuses on the performance of an individual TEG via a spot Fresnel lens. Therefore, an experimental system was constructed so that the TEG module could show high performance under the concentrated solar radiation. For this aim, the system was adapted to one-axis sun tracking system for receiving maximum solar irradiation. It was observed that the obtained experimental values of the parameters such as open circuit voltage, hot side temperature and cold side temperature of the TEG module are consistent with the collected solar values. The experimental data was collected at GPS coordinates of 41 degrees 14'N and 36 degrees 26'E (Samsun, Turkey) on 8th of September, 2017. The maximum open circuit voltage value was obtained as 0.822V.