Experimental and Thermal Analysis of Solar Thermoelectric System Performance Incorporated with Solar Tracker

In this study, it is aimed to determine the energy generation capability of the designed and manufactured thermoelectric system when mounted on the two-axis solar tracking system. Thus, it was possible to compare the results obtained from current study with previous study. The system used in previous study was comprised of a thermoelectric generator (TEG) for energy conversion, a linear Fresnel lens for concentrating solar rays, and a one-axis tracking system to increase the electrical and thermal efficiency of the system. In this study, a dual-axis (two-axis) tracking system was used as a tracking system to examine the change in thermal and electrical efficiency. Therefore, experimental measurements were performed again using both two-axis and one-axis solar tracking systems on 16th October 2019 and 17th October 2019, respectively, at the location which falls at 41 degrees 14 ' N and 36 degrees 26 ' E. Additionally, the heat transfer and electricity generation performance of TEG was theoretically analyzed using CFD model. For this purpose, a numerical model consisting TEG with heat sink was developed. It was observed that the model data obtained and the experimental data were in good agreement. The values of parameters such as temperature, solar radiation, wind speed and TEG open circuit voltage were measured instantaneously during the measurements. The maximum open circuit voltages obtained is 1.02 and 1.13 V for one-axis and dual-axis systems, respectively. The solar radiation values were measured as 464 and 472 W/m(2), respectively when the maximum open circuit voltages value is obtained. The duration for measurements was kept about 15 min so that the average values of these parameters were used in calculations. Thus, the values of maximum output power eta(e) and Seebeck coefficient were calculated and given in the paper.

Automated summary

This study aimed to determine the energy generation capacity of a thermoelectric system mounted on a two-axis solar tracking system, comparing the results with a previous study using a one-axis tracking system. Experimental measurements were conducted on different days in October 2019, with good agreement observed between model data and experimental results. The study found that the dual-axis tracking system showed improved efficiency compared to the one-axis system in terms of TEG output voltage and solar radiation values.