Energy Conversion and Management 115 (2016) 288–298

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Modeling and performance analysis of a concentrated photovoltaic–

thermoelectric hybrid power generation system
Ravita Lamba ⇑, S.C. Kaushik ⇑
Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, a thermodynamic model for analysing the performance of a concentrated photovoltaic–ther
Received 8 December 2015 moelectric generator (CPV–TEG) hybrid system including Thomson effect in conjunction with Seebeck,
Accepted 21 February 2016 Joule and Fourier heat conduction effects has been developed and simulated in MATALB environment.
The expressions for calculating the temperature of photovoltaic (PV) module, hot and cold sides of ther-
moelectric (TE) module are derived analytically as well. The effect of concentration ratio, number of ther-
Keywords: mocouples in TE module, solar irradiance, PV module current and TE module current on power output
Photovoltaic module
and efficiency of the PV, TEG and hybrid PV–TEG system have been studied. The optimum concentration
Thermoelectric module
Irreversible CPV–TEG hybrid system
ratio corresponding to maximum power output of the hybrid system has been found out. It has been
Thomson effect observed that by considering Thomson effect in TEG module, the power output of the PV, TE and hybrid
PV–TEG systems decreases and at C = 1 and 5, it reduces the power output of hybrid system by 0.7% and
4.78% respectively. The results of this study may provide basis for performance optimization of a practical
irreversible CPV–TEG hybrid system.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction the intensity of incident beam radiation. However, with increase in

The conventional fossil fuels are the most economic power gen-
eration sources. Due to escalating energy demand and oil prices,
growing concerns about various emissions from fossil fuel combus-
tion are compelling researchers to pay more attention towards
renewable energy sources which are economical and viable. Solar
energy is the most abundant and clean source among the renewable
energy sources. Photovoltaic (PV) cells are used to convert solar
energy into electricity. However, the efficient conversion of solar
energy into electricity has become the primary aim for researchers.
PV cells convert a part of incident absorbed solar radiation into elec-
tricity and a significant part is converted into heat. Thus, the ther-
malization and absorption losses which are more than 50% of
incident solar radiation in PV cells limit the application of PV cells.
Therefore, the electrical conversion efficiency is only 10–15% due to
heat dissipation which causes the increase in PV cell temperature
and it is known that a negative correlation exists between PV cell
temperature and efficiency. Furthermore, to get higher power out-
put and efficiency per unit area of PV cell, the optical concentrators
are used to concentrate solar radiation on PV cells which increases
⇑ Corresponding authors. Tel.: +91 11 2659 6465/1253.
E-mail addresses: ravitalamba.lamba247@gmail.com (R. Lamba), kaushik@ces.
iitd.ac.in (S.C. Kaushik).
power output per unit area, the PV cell temperature will also
increase significantly in concentrated PV system which results in
decrease in PV cell efficiency. Therefore, to overcome this drawback
of concentrated PV systems, some means for cooling of PV system
should be employed. Several active and passive cooling methods
have been proposed since last few decades. Royne [1] presented a
comprehensive review on various cooling methods. However, in
most of these cooling methods, the dissipated heat in PV systems
is rejected to the outside ambient. The most commonly used
method for active cooling is photovoltaic–thermal (PV/T) which
provide both electricity and heat simultaneously. The innovative
idea of conversion of thermal energy into electricity directly using
thermoelectric generator (TEG) has been proposed several years
back [2]. Van Sark [3] proposed the idea of PV–TEG hybrid system
in which, the wasted thermal energy of concentrated photovoltaic
(CPV) system can be utilized in TEG by connecting the TEG to the
back side of PV module. Since efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) mod-
ules degrades at elevated temperatures up to about 25% depending
on the module integration type in the roof. The conversion effi-
ciency for roof integrated PV–TE ideal system increases up to 23%
for thermoelectric materials having figure of merit of 0.004 K
1 at
300 K. However, the model was developed for ideal PV–TE system.
Therefore, for practical PV–TE hybrids, the efficiency reduces by
10%. Chavez-Urbiola et al. [4] examined the solar hybrid system

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2016.02.061
0196-8904/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 R. Lamba, S.C. Kaushik / Energy Conversion and Management 115 (2016) 288–298 289

Nomenclature

A area (m2) b0 PV cell temperature coefficient (K
1)

C concentration ratio l Thomson coefficient (V/K)
Eg band-gap energy of semiconductor (eV) r electrical conductivity (S/m)
G solar irradiation (W/m2) q electrical resistivity (X m)
h0 convective and radiative heat transfer coefficient s transmissivity
(W/m2 K) g efficiency
I electric current (A)
k thermal conductivity (W/m K) Subscripts
kB Boltzmann constant (1.38  10
23 J/K) a ambient
K thermal conductance (W/K) b,ch bottom, cell to hot side of TEG
KI current temperature coefficient (mA/K) c photovoltaic cell
KV voltage temperature coefficient (V/K) contact contacts
l length of thermocouple element conducting metal conducting metal
L thickness (m) eff effective
n number of p–n thermocouple elements g glass cover
nid diode ideality factor h hot side of TEG
ns number of PV cells in series l cold side of TEG
np number of strings in parallel max maximum
P electrical power (W) n n-type semiconductor material
q electric charge (1.6  10
19 C) OC open circuit
Q heat (W) p p-type semiconductor material
R electrical resistance (X) PV photovoltaic module
RL1 output load of PV module ph photo generated
RL2 output load of TEG module TE thermoelectric module
s seebeck coefficient (V/K) ref reference conditions
T temperature (K) rs reverse saturation
UL overall heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K) SC short circuit
v wind velocity (m/s) Sh shunt
V voltage (V) S series
Z figure of merit (1/K) T tedlar
t,ca top, cell to ambient
Greek letters
a absorptivity
bc packing factor of PV module

with TEG for four different configurations. The experiment study
was carried out for Bi2Te3 based TEGs with temperature difference
of 50–200 °C and it was found that the TEG’s efficiency, current and
voltage have linear dependency on the temperature difference
between hot and cold junctions of TEG. Wang et al. [5] developed
a novel PV–TEG hybrid system by inserting a selective absorber
between PV and TEG. It was reported that the overall efficiency of
combined dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) PV–TEG rises up to 13%
due to use of solar selective absorber (SSA) and TE with 6.2 °C tem-
perature gradient along the hot and cold junctions which utilizes
the low energy solar radiation transmitted through the DSSC.
Although the hybrid device was not yet optimized however, it can
be used as proof-of-principle convert solar light and heat simulta-
neously into electricity by a single device with high conversion effi-
ciency. Vorobiev et al. [6] designed a hybrid solar system consisting
of a concentrator, PC cell, heat engine and TEG. They discussed two
options; in which one having a special PV cell construction, uses the
heat energy of solar spectrum which was not absorbed in the semi-
conductor material of the cell and the other is operating at high
temperature which uses concentrated PV cell coupled to the high
temperature stage. The analysis has been carried out for different
band-gap semiconductor materials and different thermoelectric
materials. Zhang and Chau [7–8] proposed and implemented a
PV–TEG hybrid system for automobiles in which TEG was employed
to utilize the waste heat of exhaust of internal combustion (IC)
engine and optimized the power output with maximum power
point tracking (MPPT) technique. A prototype is developed and
tested to validate the proposed system. He et al. [9] carried out
the energy and exergy analysis of a TE cooling and heating system
driven by heat pipe PV/T in summer and winter operating condi-
tions theoretically and experimentally. The results show that the
electrical and thermal efficiencies of the PV/T panel are 16.7% and
23.5% respectively. The concluded that the energetic efficiency of
the system is higher in summer operation mode as compared to
that of in winter operation mode. However, the exergetic efficiency
of the system is lower in summer operation mode as compared to
that of in winter operation mode. Kraemer et al. [10] and Xing Ju
et al. [11] developed and analyzed a spectrum splitting PV–TEG
hybrid system numerically. They showed that these hybrid PV–
TEG systems can maximize conversion efficiency and are more
appropriate at higher concentration. Tritt et al. [12] proposed that
for TE power generation, the solar radiation can be utilized as heat
source. Yang and Yin [13] analyzed the novel PV–TE hybrid system
theoretically and experimentally with water pipelines being used
as heat sink. The conversion efficiency depends on water flow tem-
perature, solar irradiation and ambient temperature for given
material properties of each layer. It was reported that the power
output of photovoltaic/thermoelectric/hot water (PV/TE/HW) sys-
tem is up to 30% higher than PV/HW and conventional PV systems.
Guo et al. [14] developed a two-compartment hybrid tandem cell
containing a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) at the top and a TE sys-
tem at the bottom which uses the full solar spectrum in order to
increase the overall efficiency of the tandem cell. The efficiency of
hybrid tandem cell has been increased by 10% as compared to indi-
vidual DSSC. Zhang et al. [15] evaluated the efficiency of concen-
trated PV–TE hybrid system for different PV cells such as copper
290 R. Lamba, S.C. Kaushik / Energy Conversion and Management 115 (2016) 288–298
indium gallium selenide, crystalline silicon, silicon thin-film and
polymer photovoltaic cell. The influence of temperature on the effi-
ciency of photovoltaic cell has been taken into account based on the
semiconductor equations, which reveals different efficiency tem-
perature characteristic of polymer photovoltaic cells. They found
out that the polycrystalline silicon thin-film photovoltaic cell with
optimized convective heat transfer coefficient and concentrating
ratio and polymer photovoltaic cells are more suitable for concen-
trated and non-concentrated PV–TE hybrid system respectively. Li
et al. [16] proposed a PV–TE hybrid system which uses spectrum
beam splitting technique to effectively utilize wide spectrum solar
radiation range. The short wavelength solar radiation is converted
into electricity directly by PV cells by spectrum beam splitting
and the long wavelength solar radiation part is utilized to generate
thermal energy of moderate to high temperature which is con-
verted into electricity by TE module. A thermal energy storage unit
is also coupled to the system to overcome the intermittent nature of
solar radiation. The integrated system has been optimized to get
higher overall efficiency. Rasmus and Nielson [17] examined the
performance of PV–TEG system analytically for four different com-
mercial PV cells which are crystalline silicon (c-Si), amorphous sil-
icon (a-Si), copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) and cadmium
telluride (CdTe) and commercial Bismuth Telluride based TEG ana-
lytically. It was found out that the combined system for c-Si, CIGS
and CdTe PV cells has lower power output and efficiency than that
of PV alone and for a-Si cell, the overall system performance
increases slightly. Wu et al. [18] developed and analyzed the perfor-
mance of glazed and unglazed PV–TE hybrid system theoretically.
The have taken nanofluid as heat sink for TE module to decrease
the temperature of cold junction of TE module which results in
enhanced the temperature difference between hot and cold
junctions of TE module. They found out that the enhanced trans-
missivity of glass cover and higher concentration ration and figure
of merit for glazed system results in better performance as com-
pared to unglazed system. The have considered the coupling effect
of wind velocity and nano fluid flow rate on overall efficiency of the
system. However, they have not considered temperaturedependent
thermoelectric properties and effect of PV and TE module currents
on power output and efficiency of hybrid system. Najafi and
Woodbury [19] developed a comprehensive heat transfer model
to analyze the behavior of combined photovoltaic thermal–thermo-
electric (PVT–TE) power generation system. The evaluated the
generated power by combined PVT–TE system under different
irradiance levels. The determined the performance of the hybrid
system for a typical summer day in Tuscaloosa, AL in order to eval-
uate the system performance for actual meteorological data. The
optimized the number of thermoelectric modules to get maximum
overall power output. However, they have not optimized other
parameters of the hybrid system. Lin et al. [20] established a
PV–TE hybrid system with the help of thermodynamic method
and analyzed the performance and load matching of hybrid system.
The effects of TEG structural parameters, figure of merit and PV
current on the performance of hybrid system have been discussed
in their analysis. However, they have not considered the concen-
trated solar radiation and the heat losses from the top surface of
PV module to ambient by convection and radiation heat transfer
processes. Liao et al. [21] developed an irreversible hybrid power
generation system which consists of a low concentrating PV
module and a TEG and analyzed it theoretically. They calculated
the maximum power output of hybrid device numerically and the
optimum load resistance for CPV and TEG have been determined.
They found out the optimum criteria for some important parame-
ters. However, they have not considered Thomson effect in TEG
module. Wang et al. [22] have evaluated the efficacy of an inte-
grated photovoltaic (PV)–air source heat pump system (ASHP) in
Central-south China. The thermodynamic and feasibility analysis
of integrated PV–ASHP system which consider the manufacturing
process of PV system has been carried out. In this analysis, the
installed capacity of PV system has been decided based on the rated
power of ASHP system for heating ventilation and air conditioning
(HVAC). The direct current (DC) power of PV in inverted to alternat-
ing current (AC) to run the ASHP. The exergy efficiency, exergy con-
sumption cost for per unit investment for cooling and heating and
CO2 emission reduction have been calculated for six different cases.
From the literature review, it is clear that there exists a few the-
oretical studies on performance analysis of concentrated PV–TEG
hybrid system. Furthermore, the use of glazing on PV–TE system
traps the solar radiation in PV system and thus reduces the heat
losses to the environment and prevents the damage of PV system
due to dust and rain. However, the influence of Thomson effect
in TEG subsystem of hybrid PV–TEG system has not yet been con-
sidered in the previous literature. Therefore, in the present study, a
theoretical model of a concentrated PV–TEG irreversible hybrid
system including conductive, convective and radiative heat losses
in the PV module and Thomson effect in conjunction with Seebeck,
Joule and Fourier heat conduction effects in the TE module has
been developed theoretically and simulated in MATLAB Simulink
environment.
2. Modeling of an irreversible CPV–TEG hybrid system
The schematic and electrical equivalent circuit of proposed
CPV–TEG hybrid system is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 respectively. It
consists of, from top to bottom, a concentrator, a PV module, a
TEG module and a heat sink. The PV module consists of series con-
nected crystalline Silicon PV cells. The TEG module consists of ther-
moelectric elements which are connected electrically in series and
thermally in parallel. The bottom of the PV module is attached to
the hot side of TEG and the cold side of TEG is attached to the heat
sink. In this hybrid CPV–TEG system, the thermal energy, produced
in the CPV subsystem acts as a high temperature heat reservoir for
TEG module and thus can be utilized efficiently in TEG to generate
more power. Therefore, the performance of overall system can be
improved. In this combined CPV–TEG system, the CPV and TEG
modules are thermally connected and electrically isolated.
In order to study the overall performance of combined system,
the two subsystems are analyzed one by one. To develop the the-
oretical model of combined system, the following simplifying
assumptions have been taken:
1. For simplifying the analysis, steady state conditions have been
considered.
2. The temperature gradient along the thickness of glass cover has
been considered negligible due to very less thickness of glass
cover.
3. The system is insulated from two sides and therefore, one
dimensional heat transfer has been considered for the analysis.
4. There is no other mode of heat transfer present other than
Fourier’s heat conduction phenomena from the hot junction to
the cold junction of TEG which is due to the inherent thermal
conductivity of thermoelectric materials.
5. Convective and radiative heat transfer from the sides of thermo-
electric couples are neglected.
3. CPV subsystem
The concentrated solar radiation impinges on the PV module
surface. After absorption, a part of it is converted into electricity
by PV module through photovoltaic effect, some part is lost to
the environment from the top of PV module by convection, radia-
tion and conduction through glass cover and remaining part is
 R. Lamba, S.C. Kaushik / Energy Conversion and Management 115 (2016) 288–298 291

Concentrator

Tedlar
Hot side

-----

Cold side

Fig. 1. Schematic of CSP–TEG hybrid system.

Fig. 2. Electrical equivalent circuit of a PV–TE hybrid system.

delivered to the hot side of TE module in the form of thermal By rearranging Eq. (1), the simplified expression for PV module
energy. Therefore, the energy balance equation for PV module temperature is given as:
can be given as [19]:
CGðasÞeff þ U t;ca T a þ U b;ch T h
T PV ¼ ð6Þ
CGAPV sg ½ac bc þ aT ð1
bc Þ ¼ U t;ca APV ðT PV
T a Þ U 00L
þ U b;ch APV ðT PV
T h Þ þ gc bc sg CGAPV ð1Þ
Here,
Here, Ut,ca is the overall heat transfer coefficient from the PV module ðasÞeff ¼ sg ½bc ½ac
gref ð1 þ b0 T ref Þ þ aT ð1
bc Þ ð7Þ
to environment including conduction, convection and radiation
which is given as [19]: And,


1
Lg 1 U 00L ¼ ðU t;ca þ U b;ch Þ
CGsg bc b0 gref ¼ U L
CGsg bc b0 gref ð8Þ
U t;ca ¼ þ ð2Þ
kg h0 Here, UL is the overall heat transfer coefficient from PV module to
The expression for h0 which includes convective and radiation heat outside environment at the top surface and from PV module to TE
transfer from the top surface of PV module to environment is given module at the bottom surface. U 00L includes the overall heat transfer
as [23]: coefficient and the temperature coefficient for the efficiency of con-
centrated PV module.
h0 ¼ 5:7 þ 3:8v ð3Þ To calculate the power generated by PV module, an electrical
model is developed in which the PV cell is represented by a solar
The heat generated in PV module is delivered from back side of PV
radiation dependent current source in parallel with diode. The
module to hot side of TEG module through conduction and thus, the
electrical equivalent circuit of PV cell is shown in Fig. 3. The I–V
overall heat transfer coefficient from PV module to the TE module
characteristics of a PV module can be expressed as [25–27]:
can be given as [19]:
  


1 qðV PV þ IPV RS Þ V PV þ IPV RS
LPV LT IPV ¼ np Iph
np Irs exp
1
ð9Þ
U b;ch ¼ þ ð4Þ kB T PV nid ns RSh
kPV kT
Since shunt resistance of PV cell is much higher than the load resis-
The temperature dependent PV cell efficiency is given by following tance, so the I–V characteristics equation can be simplified as:
expression [24]:
  
qðV PV þ IPV RS Þ
gc ¼ gref ½1
b0 ðT PV
T ref Þ ð5Þ IPV ¼ np Iph
np Irs exp
1 ð10Þ
kB T PV nid ns
292 R. Lamba, S.C. Kaushik / Energy Conversion and Management 115 (2016) 288–298

Fig. 3. Electrical equivalent circuit of a PV cell.

The reverse saturation current of diode in PV cell depends on cell

Table 1
temperature and it is given by following equation [26,27]: Parameters of Siemens SP75 PV cell [28].
 3
 
T PV qEg 1 1 Parameter Symbol Value
Irs ¼ CIrs;ref exp
ð11Þ
T ref kB nid T ref T PV Area of PV module APV 0.6324 m2
Band-gap energy of PV semiconductor Eg 1.12 eV
The photocurrent, Iph of PV cell varies with PV cell temperature and Reference solar radiation Gref 1000 W/m2
solar irradiance. It is given by following equation [26–27]: Short circuit current ISC,ref 4.8 A
Open circuit voltage VOC 21.7 V
G Maximum current Imax 4.4 A
Iph ¼ ½CISC;ref þ K I ðT PV
T ref Þ ð12Þ
Gref Maximum voltage Vmax 17.0 V
Reverse saturation current at reference Irs,ref 0.118 lA
Therefore, the power output and efficiency of PV module can be cal- temperature
culated from Eqs. (10)–(12) which are given as: Short circuit current temperature coefficient KI 2.06 mA K
1
" Open circuit voltage temperature coefficient KV
0.077 V K
1
 3
np G T PV Diode ideality factor nid 1.5
P PV ¼ ðISC;ref þ K I ðT PV
T ref ÞÞ
np Irs;ref Number of PV strings connected in parallel np 1
Gref T ref
Number of PV cells connected in parallel ns 36

  

 2
qðV PV þ IPV RS Þ qEg 1 1 Maximum power output of PV module Pmax 75 W
 exp
1 exp
 RL1 ð13Þ Series resistance RS 0.0018 O
kB T PV nid ns kB nid T ref T PV
Reference temperature Tref 300 K
"  3
np G T PV
gPV ¼ ðISC;ref þ K I ðT PV
T ref ÞÞ
np Irs;ref
Gref T ref !

  

 2 I2TE RTE lITE ðT h
T l Þ
qðV PV þ IPV RS Þ qEg 1 1 RL1 Q l ¼ n sl ITE T l þ þ K TE ðT h
T l Þ þ ð16Þ
 exp
1 exp
 ð14Þ
kB T PV nid ns kB nid T ref T PV CGAPV 2 2
In the present study, Siemens SP75 crystalline Silicon PV module Here, the electrical resistance RTE and thermal conductance KTE of
has been used and the various parameters of this module are shown the thermocouples for the TEG module are defined as follows:
in Table 1.  
qp lp qn ln
RTE ¼ þ þ Rcontact þ Rconducting metal ð17Þ
4. TEG subsystem Ap An
 
The heat delivered from back side of PV module to the hot side k p Ap k n An
K TE ¼ þ þ K contact þ K conducting metal ð18Þ
of TEG module can be utilized in TEG module to generate electric- lp ln
ity directly. The multicouple TEG system is a semiconductor based In this analysis, the electrical resistance of the contacts between the
thermoelectric device and two heat reservoirs at the hot and cold junctions is assumed to be 10% of total electrical resistance of
sides. The basic TEG unit consists of a p-type and n-type semicon- thermocouples and it is assumed that perfect thermal contact exists
ductor elements which are connected electrically in series and between the junctions. Therefore, the thermal conductance
thermally in parallel. The conversion of heat into electricity is between the junction contacts has been considered to be negligible.
based on Seebeck and Peltier effects. Along with these effects, there The electrical resistance and thermal conductance of the conducting
exists Fourier’s heat conduction due to temperature gradient metal are negligible.
between hot and cold junctions, Joule’s heat due to electrical Xuan et al. [37] specified the temperature dependent material
current flowing through TEG module and Thomson’s heat due to properties of Bi2Te3 which are given as:
temperature gradient and electrical current both.
Based on the above effects, the rate of net heat flow from back s ¼ ½sp
ð
sn Þ
side of PV module to hot side of TEG module and rate of net heat ¼ 2  ð22224:0 þ 930:6T m
0:9905T 2m Þ  10
9 ð19Þ
rejection from cold side of TEG module to the cold reservoir can
be written respectively as follows [29–36]:
! qn ¼ qp ¼ ð5112:0 þ 163:4T m þ 0:6279T 2m Þ  10
10 ð20Þ
I2TE RTE lITE ðT h
T l Þ
Q h ¼ n sh ITE T h
þ K TE ðT h
T l Þ
ð15Þ
2 2 kn ¼ kp ¼ ð62605:0
277:7T m þ 0:4131T 2m Þ  10
4 ð21Þ
 R. Lamba, S.C. Kaushik / Energy Conversion and Management 115 (2016) 288–298 293


l ¼ ½lp
ð
ln Þ ¼ 2  ð930:6T m
1:981T 2m Þ  10
9 ð22Þ APV hp ðCGðasÞeff þ U t;ca T a Þ þ nK TE
2n lITE T l þ 2n I2TE RTE
Th ¼ ð30Þ
nsh ITE þ nK TE
n2 lITE þ U b;ch APV ð1
hp Þ
The power output of TEG system can be written as follows:
U b;ch
h i Here, hp ¼ U 00L
.
PTE ¼ Q h
Q l ¼ n ðsh T h
sl T l ÞITE
I2TE RTE
lITE ðT h
T l Þ ¼ I2TE RL2 ð23Þ By equating Eqs. (16) and (28) and then solving for Tl, the
expression for Tl is given as:
Using Eq. (23), the electric current flowing through TEG system can

be written as:
n 2
ITE RTE þ nK TE þ 2n lITE T h þ U l Al T a
Tl ¼ 2 ð31Þ
nK TE
nsl ITE þ n2 lITE þ U l Al
n½ðsh T h
sl T l Þ
lðT h
T l Þ
ITE ¼ ð24Þ Substituting the expression for Th from Eq. (30) into Eq. (31) and
nRTE þ RL2
then solving for Tl, the expression for Tl is given as:

 



n 2
ITE RTE ½nsh ITE þ U b;ch APV ð1
hp Þ þ nK TE þ n2 lITE APV hp CGðasÞeff þ n2 K TE RTE I2TE þ T a U l Al nsh ITE þ nK TE
n2 lITE þ U b;ch APV ð1
hp Þ þ U t;ca APV hp nK TE þ n2 lITE
Tl ¼ 2 
 

nsh ITE þ nK TE
2n lITE þ U b;ch APV ð1
hp Þ nK TE
nsl ITE þ n2 lITE þ U l Al
nK TE þ n2 lITE nK TE
n2 lITE
By substituting Eq. (24) into Eq. (23), the power output can be given
as:
n2 ½ðsh T h
sl T l Þ
lðT h
T l Þ2 RL2
PTE ¼
ðnRTE þ RL2 Þ2
The efficiency of the TEG system can be calculate from Eqs. (15) and
(16) which is given as:
PTE Q h
Q l
gTE ¼ ¼ n2 ½ðsh T h
sl T l Þ
lðT h
T l Þ2 RL2
Qh Qh
h i
ðsh T h
sl T l ÞITE
I2TE RTE
lITE ðT h
T l Þ
¼
sh ITE T h
TE2 TE þ K TE ðT h
T l Þ
lITE ðT2h
T l Þ
I2 R
5. Combined CPV–TEG system
The input heat flow from hot reservoir of TEG module which is
the back side of PV module, to the hot side of TEG module is con-
sidered to be conductive which can be expressed as:
Q h ¼ U b;ch APV ðT PV
T h Þ
where the expression for Ub,ch is given is Eq. (4). The thermal con-
ductance between the CPV and TEG depends on the thickness and
thermal conductivity of tedlar and PV cell. Therefore, the effect of
thermal conductance between CPV and TEG can be considered by
varying the thickness of tedlar. The heat rejection from cold side
of TEG module to cold heat reservoir is considered to obey Newton’s
law which can be expressed as:
Q l ¼ U l Al ðT l
T a Þ
The value of UlAl = 20 W/K has been considered to get maximum
temperature difference between hot and cold side junctions of the
TE module which causes maximum difference between (Qh–Ql)
which results in higher power output of thermoelectric module.
By equating Eqs. (15) and (27) and then solving for Th, the
expression for Th is given as:
U b;ch APV T PV þ nK TE
n2 lITE T l þ n2 I2TE RTE
Th ¼
nsh ITE þ nK TE
n2 lITE þ U b;ch APV
Substituting the expression for TPV from Eq. (6) into Eq. (29) and
then solving for Th, the expression for Th is given as:
ð32Þ
The temperature of PV module, hot and cold sides of the TEG can be
calculated from Eqs. (6), (30), and (32) respectively at different solar
radiation and TEG electric current values provided the other param-
eters of the PV–TEG hybrid system are given. After calculating TPV,
ð25Þ
Th and Tl, the power output and efficiency of the combined PV–
TEG hybrid system can be expressed as:
P ¼ PPV þ PTE ð33Þ
P ¼ I2PV RL1 þ ð34Þ
ðnRTE þ RL2 Þ2
ð26Þ
P PPV þ PTE
g¼ ¼ ð35Þ
CGAPV CGAPV
I2PV RL1 n2 ½ðsh T h
sl T l Þ
lðT h
T l Þ2 RL2
g¼ þ ð36Þ
CGAPV CGAPV ðnRTE þ RL2 Þ2
As it is known that with increase in PV module temperature, the
module efficiency decreases. However, by attaching a TEG to the
back side of PV module, the module temperature decreases than
ð27Þ that of PV system alone due to heat conducted away to the TEG
module. Therefore, the efficiency of PV system improves and thus
the overall efficiency of hybrid system also improves.
6. Results and discussion
It is clear from Eqs. (32) and (34) that the overall performance of
PV–TEG hybrid system depends on various PV and TE module
parameters. These parameters are concentration ratio, number of
ð28Þ thermocouples in TE module, Figure of merit of TE module, ther-
moelectric properties of TE module material, temperature of PV
module, hot and cold sides of TE module. For simulations study,
a Siemen SP 75 PV module has been considered. The parameters
of the PV module are listed in Table 1.
The various parameters used in modelling of PV–TEG hybrid
system are given in Table 2. The values of other parameters
assumed are following: Ta = 298 K, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.
The solar radiation has been varied from 100 to 1000 W/m2 to con-
ð29Þ
sider both the summer and winter solar radiation range. Based on
these input parameters, the various performance parameters are
calculated. The operating temperatures TPV, Th and Tl have been cal-
culated by using the above parameters and then power output of
294 R. Lamba, S.C. Kaushik / Energy Conversion and Management 115 (2016) 288–298

Table 2
Values of parameters used in modelling of PV–TEG hybrid system.

Parameter Symbol Value

Thermal conductivity of silicon PV cell kPV 148 W/m K
Thermal conductivity of glass cover kg 1.1 W/m K
Thermal conductivity of tedlar kT 0.2 W/m K
Absorptivity of PV module ac 0.9
Absorptivity of tedlar aT 0.5
Packing factor of PV module bc 0.85
Temperature coefficient of PV module b0 0.005 K
1
Thickness of PV cell LPV 0.0003 m
Thickness of glass cover Lg 0.003 m
Thickness of tedlar LT 0.000175 m
Wind velocity over PV module v 2.5 m/s
PV module efficiency at standard test conditions gref 13%
(STC)
Transmissivity of glass cover sg 0.95

Fig. 6. Variation of power output of hybrid PV–TEG system with solar radiation at
different concentration ratio for n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.

behaviour of PV system alone. In both the plots, the power output

Fig. 4. Variation of power output of PV system with solar radiation at different
concentration ratio for n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.
Fig. 5. Variation of power output of TEG system with solar radiation at different
concentration ratio for n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.
PV, TEG and hybrid PV–TEG system varying with solar radiation
has been plotted in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 respectively at different values
of concentration ratio for n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1. In
summer and winter, the maximum solar radiation is 1000 W/m2
and 600 W/m2 for clear sky conditions. It is clear from Figs. 4 and
5 that the variation in power output of hybrid system follows the
first increases with solar radiation and gets an optimum value and
then power output decreases with increase in solar radiation. At
higher solar radiation, more part of incident solar radiation is con-
verted into heat which increases the module temperature and
results in decreases in PV power output and thus overall power
output of hybrid system. Also the maximum for power output is
at lower value of solar radiation for higher concentration ratio.
The power output of TEG module increases with increase in solar
radiation due to increase in module temperature which results in
increase in heat input to the TEG module as shown in Fig. 5. The
power output of TEG module increases with increase in concentra-
tion ratio due to higher heat input supplied to the TEG module.
The variation of power output with concentration for PV, TEG
and hybrid PV–TEG system has been plotted in Fig. 7 for
G = 1000 W/m2, n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1. However, the
power output of TEG system always increases with concentration
ratio but for PV and hybrid PV–TEG system, the power output first
increases and then decreases with increase in concentration ratio.
The variation of efficiency of PV, TEG and hybrid PV–TEG system
with concentration ration has been plotted in Fig. 8 for G = 1000
W/m2, n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1. The efficiency of PV
and hybrid PV–TEG system decreases with increase in concentra-
tion ratio due to increase in module temperature and the efficiency
curves of both systems follow the same pattern. The efficiency of
TEG system increases with increase in concentration ratio due to
higher heat supplied to TEG module.
The three dimensional variation of power of hybrid PV–TEG sys-
tem with PV module current and TE module current has been
shown in Fig. 9 for C = 1, n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1. The
different current values of PV and TE module are calculated at
maximum power point for solar radiation varying from 100 to
1000 W/m2. The power of hybrid system increases with increase
in PV module and TE module currents. The effect of concentration
ratio on the variation in efficiency of PV, TEG and hybrid PV–TEG
system with solar radiation has been shown in Figs. 10–12
respectively for n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1. The efficiency
pattern for hybrid PV–TEG system follows that of PV system. The
efficiency of PV and hybrid PV–TEG system decreases with increase
in solar radiation due to negative relationship between PV module
efficiency and temperature. The efficiency of PV and hybrid
 R. Lamba, S.C. Kaushik / Energy Conversion and Management 115 (2016) 288–298 295

Fig. 10. Variation of efficiency of PV system with solar radiation at different

concentration ratio for n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.
Fig. 7. Variation of power output of PV, TEG and hybrid PV–TEG system with
concentration ratio for G = 1000 W/m2, n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.

Fig. 8. Variation of efficiency of PV, TEG and hybrid PV–TEG system with Fig. 11. Variation of efficiency of TEG system with solar radiation at different
concentration ratio for G = 1000 W/m2, n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1. concentration ratio for n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.

Fig. 9. Three dimensional variation of power of hybrid PV–TEG system with PV module current and TE module current for C = 1, n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.
296 R. Lamba, S.C. Kaushik / Energy Conversion and Management 115 (2016) 288–298
Fig. 12. Variation of efficiency of hybrid PV–TEG system with solar radiation at
different concentration ratio for n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.
Fig. 13. Variation of power output of PV and TE system with solar radiation at
different number of thermocouples for C = 1, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.
Fig. 14. Variation of power output of hybrid PV–TEG system with solar radiation at
different number of thermocouples values for C = 1, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.
PV–TEG system is less at higher concentration ratio. Also, the
decrement in efficiency with solar radiation is lesser at smaller
concentration ratio. The efficiency of TEG system increases with
increase in solar radiation and concentration ratio which is obvious
due to higher heat input.
Fig. 15. Variation of power output of hybrid PV–TEG and TEG system with and
without Thomson effect for C = 1 and 5, n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.
Fig. 16. Variation of temperature of PV system with solar radiation at different
concentration ratio for n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.
The effect of number of thermocouple elements on the variation
of power output of PV and TEG simultaneously and hybrid PV–TEG
with solar radiation has been shown in Figs. 13 and 14 respectively
C = 1, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1. The contribution of power output
of TEG to the overall power output of hybrid PV–TEG system is very
less as compared to that of PV system by considering Thomson
effect and therefore, the pattern for power output variation with
solar radiation is same for both PV and hybrid PV–TEG system.
The power output of TEG system increases with increase in both
solar radiation and number of thermocouple elements due to
higher heat input.
The influence of Thomson effect on power output of hybrid PV–
TEG and TEG system has been shown in Fig. 15 for C = 1 and 5,
n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1. When Thomson effect is con-
sidered in the TEG analysis, then the power output of hybrid PV–
TEG and TEG system decreases due to Thomson heating. The power
output of TEG system is affected more as compared to hybrid PV–
TEG system by Thomson effect. The reduction in power output of
hybrid PV–TEG system due to Thomson effect is more at higher
concentration ratio values due to very high temperature of PV
module. The variation of temperature of PV module and cold side
of TEG module with solar radiation for different concentration ratio
 R. Lamba, S.C. Kaushik / Energy Conversion and Management 115 (2016) 288–298
Fig. 17. Variation of temperature of cold side of TEG system with solar radiation at
different concentration ratio for n = 127, UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1.
values has been plotted in Figs. 16 and 17 respectively for n = 127,
UlAl = 20 W/K and RL2/R = 1. It is obvious that the temperature of PV
module increases with increase in both solar radiation and concen-
tration ratio due to more amount of incident solar energy con-
verted into heat. The heat generated in PV module is conducted
to hot side of TEG module through tedar. Therefore, the hot side
temperature of TEG module is little lesser than that of PV module
and follows the behaviour of PV module temperature. The temper-
ature of cold side of TEG module also increases with solar radiation
and concentration ratio but the increment is less as compared to
that of PV and hot side of TEG module.
7. Conclusions
A theoretical model of an irreversible CPV–TEG hybrid system
including various conduction, convection and radiation heat losses
in PV module and Thomson effect in conjunction with Seebeck,
Joule and Fourier heat conduction effects in TEG module has been
developed. The expressions for power output and efficiency of
hybrid PV–TEG system have been derived analytically and simu-
lated in MATLAB environment. It has been observed that the hybrid
PV–TEG system generate more power than that of PV system alone.
The overall efficiency and power output of hybrid system has been
improved as compared to that of conventional PV system alone.
The influence of Thomson effect is more dominant at higher con-
centration ratio. Furthermore, the concentration ratio should be
optimized to get maximum power from hybrid system. Based on
the study, the following conclusions have been observed:
 At a given concentration ratio, the power output is maximum at
a particular solar irradiance. In this study, the power outputs of
hybrid PV–TEG and PV system alone are maximum for solar
irradiance of 600 W/m2 which are 110.5 W and 97.55 W respec-
tively for C = 5 and n = 127. The efficiencies of hybrid PV–TEG
and PV system alone at maximum power output are 0.058
and 0.051 respectively for G = 600 W/m2, C = 5 and n = 127.
 The Thomson effect reduces the power output of hybrid system
by 0.7% and 4.78% at C = 1 and 5 respectively for n = 127,
G = 700 W/m2. The reduction in power output of TEG due to
Thomson effect is higher as compared to hybrid PV–TEG system.
 The efficiencies of hybrid PV–TEG and PV system alone decrease
slightly at lower concentration ratio values and the rate of
decrement in efficiency is more at higher concentration ratio
values. The efficiency of TE system increases with increase in
concentration ratio.
297
 The power output is maximum at an optimum value of concen-
tration ratio. The maximum power outputs of hybrid PV–TEG,
TE and PV system alone, corresponding to an optimum concen-
tration ratio value of 3, are 111 W, 12.99 W and 97.97 W respec-
tively for n = 127, and the efficiencies corresponding to
maximum power output of hybrid PV–TEG, TE and PV system
alone are 0.058, 0.043 and 0.052 respectively.
 The percentage increase in power output and efficiency of
hybrid PV–TEG system with respect to PV system alone are
13.26% and 13.37% respectively at C = 3 and n = 127.
Thus, the results obtained in this study are helpful in optimiza-
tion analysis for both design and performance of a practical irre-
versible CPV–TEG hybrid system.
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