Performance analysis of a double-pass thermoelectric solar air collector

The thermoelectric (TE) solar air collector, sometimes known as the hybrid solar collector, generates both thermal and electrical energies simultaneously. A double-pass TE solar air collector has been developed and tested. The TE solar collector was composed of transparent glass, air gap, an absorber plate, thermoelectric modules and rectangular fin heat sink. The incident solar radiation heats up the absorber plate so that a temperature difference is created between the thermoelectric modules that generates a direct Current. Only a small part of the absorbed solar radiation is converted to electricity, while the rest increases the temperature of the absorber plate. The ambient air flows through the heat sink located in the lower channel to gain heat. The heated air then flows to the upper channel where it receives additional heating from the absorber plate. Improvements to the thermal and overall efficiencies of the system can be achieved by the use of the double-pass collector system and TE technology. Results show that the thermal efficiency increases as the air flow rate increases. Meanwhile, the electrical power output and the conversion efficiency depend on the temperature difference between the hot and cold side of the TE modules. At a temperature difference of 22.8 degrees C, the unit achieved a power output of 2.13 W and the conversion efficiency of 6.17%. Therefore, the proposed TE solar collector concept is anticipated to contribute to wider applications of the TE hybrid systems due to the increased overall efficiency. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.