A novel concentrating photovoltaic/thermal solar system combined with thermoelectric module in an integrated design

The use of solar energy concentration systems for achieving performance enhancements in the Photovoltaic/thermal hybrid solar systems and reduction of initial costs is an idea that has been studied for years. In this article a new structure for parabolic trough photovoltaic/thermal collector is proposed and its thermal and electrical performances are experimentally investigated. The receiver of this concentrator contains a triangular channel with an outer surface covered with photovoltaic cells and thermoelectric modules with a specific arrangement so that in addition to absorbing heat, a larger portion of the solar radiation is directly converted to electricity. Hence, the performance of the system is enhanced. Performance evaluation of this combined heat and power system that is equipped with one-axis solar tracker in polar mechanism shows that daily average electrical and thermal efficiencies can reach 4.83% and 46.16%, respectively. In addition, the electricity generation capacity of the photovoltaic module applied to this system has become fourfold in comparison with its standard working conditions. As a result, besides simultaneous generation of heat and electricity, the proposed model has a satisfactory performance. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.