Experimental investigation on generated power of thermoelectric roof solar collector

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the performance of a new roof design concept termed "the thermoelectric-roof solar collector (TE-RSC)" for heat gain reduction and power generation. The TE-RSC surface area was 0.0525 m² and ten thermoelectric cooling modules (Tianjin Lantian model TECI-12708) were used. The system is composed of a transparent acrylic sheet, air gap, a copper plate, thermoelectric modules and a rectangular fin heat sink. Investigations were done by varying solar radiation under Thailand conditions, as simulated by using a halogen lamp, between 400- 1,000 W/m². The incident solar radiation heats up the copper plate so that a temperature difference is created between the TE modules that generates a direct current. This generated current was used to drive a fan for cooling the two sides of TE modules and enhancing the ventilation. It was found that this TE-RSC can generate about 1.2 W under global solar radiation intensity of about 800 W/m² at ambient temperature varying between 30-35 °C. The corresponding air velocity generated by the ventilation fan was about 1.7 m/s. Therefore, the proposed TE-RSC concept seems to be an interesting new alternative for various purposes such as power generation, roof heat gain reduction and indoor ventilation.