Investigation of power generated from a PVT-TEG system in Iranian cities

In the present paper, the possibility of using thermoelectric power generating modules (TEG) to convert the heat generated by the photovoltaic / thermal collector (PVT) to electricity in Iranian cities has been investigated. Thermal modeling of PVT-TEG system has been performed. The hot side of the TEG module is connected to the top of the air duct, which is connected to the back of the solar panel. Air flows through the duct and cools the cold part of the TEG modules. TEG modules convert the generated temperature gradient into electricity. Therefore, generating additional electricity from the generated heat improves the performance of the system. To evaluate the performance of the PVT-TEG system, nine cities with different climates from Iran (Bander Abbas, Birjand, Bojnurd, Bushehr, Esfahan, Hamedan, Jask, Kerman and Kermanshah) have been considered. Meteorological data for each city were used for the studies. The results show that the efficiency of the system depends on the temperature and the intensity of radiation. The electricity produced by the proposed system in Kerman is 1.66 times that of Bojnurd. Increasing the number of TEG modules increases the amount of electricity produced. Kerman city has the highest TEG efficiency (1.58%)and Bojnurd city has the highest PVT efficiency(9.15%).