Solar-biomass thermoelectric power generation simulation

This paper presents simulation results of a new hybrid thermoelectric power generator combining solar energy and biomass energy. The system considered is composed of a domestic cook-stove that uses charcoal or wood as fuel, thermoelectric (TE) modules, a photovoltaic panel and control devices. Simulations were performed using TRNSYS with Ilsibat program with a new component we developed for thermoelectric modules. Different TE input data could be used corresponding to different manufacturers (China, USA). Temperature profile of cook-stove was extracted from the experiment and the minimum of average 5 years (1998-2002, Bangkok) hourly solar radiation and ambient temperature were used. The operating conditions of the system are as follows: hot side temperature of thermoelectric modules of about 250°C and power output of 100 W that represents a minimum domestic requirement of a small family. By considering equal power generated by the TE modules and the PV panel, the maximum power output that could be produced by this hybrid TE-PV cook-stove, on the worst-month (September) is 55.38 W. The TRNSYS software and the developed thermoelectric component is therefore an extremely useful tool for the design of solar-biomass thermoelectric power generation of whatever size.