Abstract
Photovoltaic(PV)moduletemperaturecharacteristicsareinfluentialtoaccuratelymeasuretheefficiencyof PV.The studyfocuseson methods ofimprovement inPVefficiency byheattransfereffect. ThermoElectricGenerator (TEG)isadevicethatcanbeusedto generateelectricalenergywheretemperature gradientisavailable.In thiswork, it is investigated that heat absorbedbyPVcanbeutilized to generatetemperaturegradient.The wasted heatproducedinsolarcell,TEGcan beusedtoproduceelectricityotherthansolarcell.By using TEGs minimum temperature drop of 9°C and maximum of 15°C across 4 cells was recorded. Comparing temperature drop obtained by using TEGs and heat exchanger with the referred values, 7.5% improvement in power output is recorded. It was concluded that using TEGs not only temperature drops across the module, but also the power can be obtained from the TEGs other than the solar cell. The waste heat produced in the solar cell can be used to produce energy using TEGs.
Keyword(s)
Photovoltaic, Thermo Electric Generator, Renewable energy, Solar cell