Electricity Generation From a Compound Parabolic Concentrator Coupled to a Thermoelectric Module

Generating electricity from the sun using a combination of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) and a thermoelectric module (TEM) has been studied. The system was modeled, analyzed, and tested. The model equations and the methodology used for the demonstration are presented and experimentally validated. The experimental setup comprised a manually fabricated CPC placed on a commercially available TEM. The results showed that the combination can generate and sustain enough power for a small appliance. It was also shown that there is enough dissipated heat from the system, which could be harnessed for additional uses. The cost is still high, about $35/Wp, but if credit is given for the thermal energy the initial cost goes down. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4001670]