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Energy Conversion and Management 146 (2017) 68–77

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy Conversion and Management

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

Thermal modelling of semitransparent photovoltaic thermal (PVT) with

thermoelectric cooler (TEC) collector
Neha Dimri a,⇑, Arvind Tiwari b, G.N. Tiwari c
a
Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
b
Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Qassim University, Buraidah, Saudi Arabia
c
Bag Energy Research Society (BERS), Mahamana Nagar, Varanasi 221005, UP, India1

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

Article history: In this paper, a thermal model for semitransparent photovoltaic thermal with thermoelectric cooler (PVT-
Received 15 February 2017 TEC) collector has been derived. The derivation is based on overall energy balance maintained by each
Received in revised form 8 May 2017 component of the semitransparent PVT-TEC collector.The electrical efficiency of the proposed semitrans-
Accepted 8 May 2017
parent PVT-TEC collector has been compared with [case-(i)] semitransparent photovoltaic (PV) collector
Available online 18 May 2017
and [case-(ii)] semitransparent photovoltaic with thermoelectric cooler (PV-TEC) collector. The results
illustrate that the electrical efficiency of the proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector is higher than
Keywords:
semitransparent PV collector [case-(i)] by 7.266% and is higher than semitransparent PV-TEC collector
Photovoltaic thermal
Solar thermoelectric cooler
[case-(ii)] by 4.723%. Also, an overall exergy efficiency of the proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector
Solar energy is the maximum, when compared with [case-(i)] and [case-(ii)].
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Ziapour et. al. [43] analysed the effect of reflectors on the per-
formance of finned passive PVT system during sunshine and non-
Designing and manufacturing of photovoltaic systems is one of sunshine hours. During non-sunshine hours, the reflectors were
the solutions to deal with the energy crisis arising throughout the turned to cover the collector glass cover and the simulation results
world. Photovoltaic (PV) systems convert solar energy directly into suggested that the night heat losses were reduced, as a result.
electrical energy. However, it should be noted that in order to sup- Guarracino et. al. [8] presented a dynamic model for evaluation
ply power during off-sunshine hours, the electrical energy must be of electrical energy and thermal energy generated by hybrid PVT
stored. This can be achieved by either connecting the power system collector with sheet-and-tube thermal absorber. The effects of
to grid or through the use of battery. In recent years, several meth- additional glazing on thermal and electrical efficiency were also
ods have been proposed to enhance the power quality of grid-based studied. The results depicted that while the thermal efficiency
systems [16]. Several scientists have worked in the area of grid- enhances with the additional glass covers, the electrical output
integrated PV systems [23,10,9,24,27,5]. Further, a PV module con- diminishes as a result of higher fluid temperature and optical
verts about 10–15% of the absorbed solar radiation into electrical losses. Singh et. al. [25] developed a thermal model for a self-
energy. The remaining solar radiation is either reflected to ambient sustained partially covered PVT flat plate collector (FPC) solar still.
environment or absorbed as heat, thereby increasing the PV mod- The theoretical results were experimentally validated, for the
ule’s operating temperature and decreasing the electrical efficiency. climatic condition of New Delhi, with the correlation coefficient
Hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems allow the enhancement varying between 0.97 and 0.99. The range of coefficient of determi-
of electrical energy of photovolatic (PV) module, by removing ther- nation was evaluated as 0.94 to 0.98 and the annual productivity of
mal energy from the back of solar cells and subsequently decreasing the system varied between 120.29% and 883.55%. Monero et. al.
the operating temperature of solar cells. Further, the withdrawn [18] performed heat flux simulation of nearly horizontal, with 8°
thermal energy can be utilized for space heating, etc. [4]. Many slope, unglazed flat plate PVT water collector installed in Madrid
researchers have developed different configurations of PVT systems and compared it with theoretical model. Singh and Tiwari [26]
over the past few decades [36,3,1,12,7,37,14,6,32–34,11]. optimized the number of collectors and mass flow rate for single
slope and double slope photovoltaic thermal compound parabolic
concentrator (PVT-CPC) active solar distillation systems and evalu-
1
www.bers.in. ated annual distillate output, energy, cogeneration efficiency and
⇑ Corresponding author. exergy at 0.14 m water depth for New Delhi climatic condition.
E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Dimri).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2017.05.017
0196-8904/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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N. Dimri et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 146 (2017) 68–77 69

Nomenclature

L length of collector (m) hp1 first penalty factor due to top glass cover
b breadth of collector (m) hp2 second penalty factor due to bottom glass cover
cf specific heat of fluid (J/kg K) hp3 third penalty factor due to TEC module
dx elemental length (m) go solar cell efficiency at standard test condition
IðtÞ global radiation (W/m2) (IðtÞ ¼ 1000 W/m2 , T o ¼ 25 °C)
m_f mass flow rate of fluid (kg/s) gtc conversion efficiency from thermal energy to electrical
Kg thermal conductivity of glass (W/m K) energy of TEC module
K tc thermal conductivity of TEC module (W/m K) bo temperature coefficient of solar cell efficiency (K1)
Ki thermal conductivity of insulation (W/m K)
Lg thickness of glass (m) Greek letters
Ltc thickness of TEC module (m) a absorptivity
Li thickness of insulation (m) b packing factor
ht;gs heat transfer coefficient from solar cell to bottom glass s transmittivity
cover (W/m2 K) g efficiency
htf heat transfer coefficient from TEC module to fluid (W/ ðasÞeff product of effective absorptivity and transmittivity
m2 K)
Ut overall heat transfer coefficient from top of solar cells to Subscripts
ambient through top glass cover (W/m2 K)
a ambient
Ub overall heat transfer coefficient from bottom of insula- g glass
tion to ambient (W/m2 K) eff effective
U t;gstc overall heat transfer coefficient from bottom glass cover sc solar cell
to TEC module (W/m2 K)
tc TEC module
U t;gsa overall heat transfer coefficient from bottom glass cover th thermal
to ambient (W/m2 K) f fluid
U tca overall heat transfer coefficient from TEC module to fi fluid inlet
ambient (W/m2 K)
fo fluid outlet
U fa overall heat transfer coefficient from fluid to ambient m module
(W/m2 K)

The exergoeconomic parameter, enviroeconomic parameter, pro- PVT collectors employing a TEC module have not been studied
ductivity and cogeneration efficiency for double slope PVT-CPC in detail as of now. In this paper, an attempt has been made to
active solar distillation system were found to be higher than single develop a thermal model of photovoltaic thermal (PVT) with ther-
slope configuration by 16.22%, 21.48%, 8.56% and 5.73%, respec- moelectric cooler (TEC) collector.
tively. Lamnatou and Chemisana [15] reviewed different PVT tech-
nologies and examined their underlying environmental issues,
considering factors such as PV cell material, concentrators, heat 2. Working principle
transfer fluid, alternative material, etc.
Although the overall energy generated by PVT systems is In our study, the PVT system is integrated with a thermoelectric
higher, a major component of it is in thermal form, i.e. low-grade cooler (TEC) module in order to obtain an increased overall electri-
energy. Therefore, a device which converts heat directly into elec- cal efficiency of the proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector.
tricity, i.e. Thermoelectric (TE) module, needs to be incorporated to Fig. 1 illustrates the schematic diagram of the proposed semitrans-
enhance the high-grade energy. Thermoelectric (TE) modules work parent PVT-TEC collector.
on the principle of Seebeck/Peltier effect [19]. When a temperature In this case, a TEC module is placed in between the bottom glass
difference is introduced across the two sides of a TE module, the cover and the air duct. The global radiation incident over the
charge carriers drift from hot to cold side. This in turn leads to gen- packing area of PV module is absorbed by the solar cells and thus,
eration of electrical energy. Vorobiev et. al. [38] proposed a contributes to the electrical energy output. The incident global
thermal-photovoltaic solar hybrid system, comprising of radiation radiation is transmitted through the non-packing area of PV
concentrator, solar cell and thermoelectric generator. The overall module and gets absorbed by the TEC module. This is known as
efficiency of the hybrid system was evaluated to be around 30%, direct gain. Thermal energy is transferred from the solar cells to
based on theoretical calculations. Several researchers have studied the bottom glass cover and subsequently, to the TEC module, i.e.
solar thermoelectric generators [28,13,41,39,29,17]. Zhu et. al. [42] indirect gain. Due to direct and indirect gain, a temperature
developed a photovoltaic-thermoelectric hybrid power generation difference arises between both the ends of TEC module and thus,
system with optimized thermal management. Due to the addi- electrical energy is generated. So the electrical energy output is
tional electrical energy generated by thermoelectric generator, increased by placing a TEC module in the PVT system. Also, there
the developed hybrid system achieved a peak efficiency of 23%. is a transfer of thermal energy from back-side of TEC module to
Ong et. al. [20] evaluated the performance of a solar water heating the air flowing below it, and therefore, the temperature of air
system consisting of evacuated tube heat pipe solar collector and increases at outlet. The flow of air below TEC module also aids in
TE modules for generation of hot water as well as electrical energy. reducing the temperature of the back-side of TEC, thereby
They performed experiments by considering water coolant flow maintaining a temperature difference between both ends. The
rates as 0.9 g/s, 1.5 g/s and 8.3 g/s, and recorded evaporator proposed configuration of semitransparent PVT-TEC, shown in
temperature, condenser temperature, inlet temperature, outlet Fig. 1, can be integrated to air collectors working under forced
temperature and TE junction temperatures. As a result, the electri- mode, either for space heating or crop/vegetable drying, to make
cal efficiency was computed as about 0.16%. the system self-sustained.
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70 N. Dimri et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 146 (2017) 68–77

1
3. Thermal model Ltc
U t;gstc ¼ Rc þ
K tc
The following assumptions have been made in writing the
energy balance equations for each component of the proposed where, Rc is the thermal contact resistance at TEC module interface,
semitransparent PVT-TEC collector: i.e. thermoelectric leg-electrode interfaces. Thermal contact resis-
tances in the range of 1  106  5  104 m2 K=W have been
(i) The semitransparent PVT-TEC collector is in quasi steady reported in literature [21]. In the present study, thermal contact
state. resistance (Rc ) of 104 m2 K=W has been considered (Table 1).
(ii) No temperature gradient is present across thickness of air By solving Eqs. (1)–(3), the following expressions are calculated
column, solar cell and glass covers. for T sc (solar cell temperature), T bs;gs (bottom glass cover tempera-
(iii) Heat capacity of glass covers and solar cells is negligible. ture) and T bs;tc (back-side TEC temperature).
(iv) Ohmic losses in solar cells are neglected.
(v) One-dimensional heat flow is considered. ðasÞeff IðtÞ þ U t T a þ ht;gs T bs;gs
T sc ¼ ; ð5Þ
U t þ ht;gs
3.1. Proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector
hp1 ðasÞeff IðtÞ þ U t;gsa T a þ U t;gstc T bs;tc
T bs;gs ¼ ; ð6Þ
The energy balance equations for each component of the pro- U t;gsa þ U t;gstc
posed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector can be written next, con-
sidering an elemental area, bdx, shown in Fig. 2. and
By considering Figs. 2 and 3, the energy balance equations for
ðasÞeff IðtÞ þ ð1  gtc ÞU tca T a þ htf T f
each component of the semitransparent PVT-TEC collector are as T bs;tc ¼ ð7Þ
follows [32]: ð1  gtc ÞU tca þ htf

(a) For semitransparent PV module:

(b) For bottom glass cover:

(c) For TEC module (Fig. 2):

The direct and indirect gain available on the TEC module will
lead to generation of electrical energy and the remaining
thermal energy will be transferred to the fluid flowing below
the TEC module.

s2g atc ð1  bsc ÞIðtÞbdx þ U t;gstc ðT bs;gs  T bs;tc Þbdx ¼ htf ðT bs;tc  T f Þbdx þ gtc U t;gstc ðT bs;gs  T bs;tc Þbdx ð3Þ

(d) For fluid flowing below the TEC module:

Using Eqs. (5)–(7), Eq. (4) can be rewritten as:

It should be noted that U t;gstc is the overall heat transfer coeffi- dT f
cient from bottom glass cover to TEC module, and is calculated as ½hp3 ðasÞeff IðtÞ  U fa ðT f  T a Þbdx ¼ m
_ f cf dx þ U b ðT f  T a Þbdx
dx
(Fig. 3):
ð8Þ
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N. Dimri et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 146 (2017) 68–77 71

Fig. 1. cross-sectional view of proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector.

Fig. 2. cross-sectional view of an elemental length ‘dx’ showing air flow pattern
below TEC module.

Upon solving Eq. (8) with the initial condition T f jx¼0 ¼ T fi , the
following expression for T f is derived.
" #
 
hp3 ðasÞeff IðtÞ ðU fa þ U b Þbx
Tf ¼ þ T a 1  exp
ðU fa þ U b Þb m_ f cf
 
ðU fa þ U b Þbx
þ T fi exp ð9Þ
_ f cf
m
The outlet fluid temperature (T fo ) can be calculated by using the
boundary condition T f jx¼L ¼ T fo . Eq. (9) can be integrated to deter-
mine the average fluid temperature (T f ) as follows:
Z L
1
Tf ¼ T f dx ð10Þ
L 0

Solving further,
" #2 n  o3
ðU fa þU b ÞbL
hp3 ðasÞeff IðtÞ 1  exp _ f cf
m
Tf ¼ þ T a 41  5
ðU fa þ U b Þb ðU fa þU b ÞbL
m _ f cf
h  i
ðU fa þU b ÞbL
1  exp m_ f cf
þ T fi ðU þU ÞbL
ð11Þ
fa b
_ f cf
m

By substituting the value of T f from Eq. (11) in Eqs. (5)–(7), we Fig. 3. Thermal circuit diagram of semitransparent photovoltaic thermal with
can evaluate the expressions for T sc (average solar cell tempera- thermoelectric cooler (PVT-TEC) collector.

ture), T bs;gs (average bottom glass cover temperature) and T bs;tc

(average back-side TEC temperature), respectively. gm ¼ sg bsc gsc ð14Þ
The solar cell efficiency, gsc , of a PV module is given by
The electrical energy produced by the PV module (Esc ) can be
gsc ¼ go ½1  bo ðT sc  T o Þ ð12Þ expressed as follows:
Now, the analytical expression for solar cell efficiency (gsc ) can
Esc ¼ gm IðtÞbL ð15Þ
be obtained by substituting the expression for average solar cell
temperature (T sc ) in Eq. (12), as follows: The electrical energy output of the thermoelectric cooler (TEC)
 module (Etec ) is given by
1  bo ðXIðtÞ þ YT a þ ZT fi  T o Þ
gsc ¼ go ð13Þ Etec ¼ gtc ½Tjx¼0  Tjx¼Ltc U t;gstc bL ¼ gtc ½T bs;gs  T bs;tc U t;gstc bL ð16Þ
f1  go bo IðtÞW g
The expressions for X; Y; Z and W are given in the Appendix A. where, gtc is the conversion efficiency from thermal energy to elec-
The electrical efficiency (gm ) of PV module is given by [35]: trical energy of the TEC module.
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72 N. Dimri et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 146 (2017) 68–77

Table 1 where U L ¼ U t þ U b ,
Design parameters of semitransparent photovoltaic thermal with thermoelectric h i1
L
cooler (PVT-TEC) collector. U t ¼ Kgg þ h1o , and
h i1
Parameters Value Lg
U b ¼ K g þ h1i
L, b 2 m, 1 m
The electrical efficiency of semitransparent PV collector (gm ) is
asc , atc 0.9, 0.8
sg 0.95 as follows:
bsc
go , gtc
0.89
0.15, 0.08
gm ¼ sg bsc gsc ð21Þ
bo 0.0045/K
cf 1005 J/kg K The electrical energy output of semitransparent PV collector
_f
m 0.003 kg/s [case-(i)] can be expressed as:
Rc 104 m2 K/W
K g ; K tc ; K i 0.816 W/m K, 1.82 W/m K, 0.166 W/m K Eel½caseðiÞ ¼ gm IðtÞbL ð22Þ
Lg ; Ltc ; Li 0.003 m, 0.004 m, 0.100 m
ht;gs , htf 272 W/m2 K, 5.8 W/m2 K
U t , U b ; U t;gstc 9.17 W/m2 K, 0.62 W/m2 K, 435.2 W/m2 K 3.3. Semitransparent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)]
U t;gsa , U tca , U fa 3.4691 W/m2 K, 3.4428 W/m2 K, 2.0486 W/m2 K
hp1 , hp2 , hp3 0.3783, 0.9924, 0.6468
The schematic diagram of semitransparent photovoltaic with
thermoelectric cooler (PV-TEC) collector is shown in Fig. 5. Here,
both the PV module and TEC module will add to the electrical
The overall electrical energy generated by the semitransparent energy output. However, in this case, there is no duct/tube for fluid
photovoltaic thermal with thermoelectric generator (PVT-TEC) col- flow and thus, the back-side of TEC module will be at a higher tem-
lector is the summation of electrical energy output of PV module perature in comparison to the TEC module in the proposed semi-
and of TEC module, expressed as: transparent PVT-TEC collector. As a result, the temperature
difference across the TEC module will be lower.
Eel½PVTTEC ¼ Esc þ Etec ¼ gm IðtÞ þ gtc ðT bs;gs  T bs;tc ÞU t;gstc bL ð17Þ The solar cell efficiency (gsc ) and electrical efficiency of PV mod-
The rate of thermal energy available from the semitransparent ule (gm ), in this case, is derived as:
PVT-TEC collector is given by: 
1  bo ðX 0 IðtÞ þ T a  T o Þ
Q_ u ¼ m
_ f cf ðT fo  T fi Þ ð18Þ gsc ¼ go n
g b bsc sg IðtÞ
o ; ð23Þ
1  o Uot þh t;gs
Subsequently, thermal efficiency (gth ) of the semitransparent
PVT-TEC collector can be obtained as: and
_ f cf ðT fo  T fi Þ
m
gth ¼ ð19Þ gm ¼ sg bsc gsc ð24Þ
IðtÞbL
where
h i
s b a hp1 ðasÞeff U t;gstc ðasÞeff
3.2. Semitransparent PV collector [case-(i)] X 0 ¼ Ugt þh
h
sc sc
t;gs
þ Ut þh
t;gs
t;gs U t;gsa þU t;gstc
þ ðUt;gsa þUt;gstc Þ½ð1g ÞU t;ca þh 
, and
tc b

hb ¼ 2:8 þ 3V; V ¼ 1 m/s.

The schematic diagram of semitransparent photovoltaic (PV)
It should be noted that hb is the forced convective heat transfer
collector [case-(i)] is shown in Fig. 4. In this case, there is no ther-
coefficient due to ambient air with air velocity, V [31].
moelectric cooler (TEC) module and thus, the PV module is solely
The electrical energy output of semitransparent PV-TEC collec-
responsible for generation of electrical energy.
tor [case-(ii)] can be expressed as:
The solar cell efficiency (gsc ), in this case, was derived by Tiwari
and Sodha [32] and is given by the expression:
n  o Eel½caseðiiÞ ¼ gm IðtÞ þ gtc ðT bs;gs  T bs;tc ÞU t;gstc bL ð25Þ
a s b
1  bo scUgL sc IðtÞ þ T a  T o
gsc ¼ go n o ð20Þ where the expressions for T bs;gs (bottom glass cover temperature)
g b b s IðtÞ and T bs;tc (back-side TEC temperature) are derived as follows:
1  o o UscL g

Fig. 4. cross-sectional view of semitransparent PV collector [case-(i)].

Fig. 5. cross-sectional view of semitransparent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)].

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N. Dimri et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 146 (2017) 68–77 73

" #
hp1 ðasÞeff U t;gstc ðasÞeff The overall electrical efficiency of the proposed semitranspar-
T bs;gs ¼ þ IðtÞ ent PVT-TEC collector is calculated as:
U t;gsa þ U t;gstc ðU t;gsa þ U t;gstc Þ½ð1  gtc ÞU tca þ hb 
þ Ta; Eel½PVTTEC
gel ¼ ð35Þ
ð26Þ IðtÞbL
and An overall exergy efficiency of the proposed semitransparent
PVT-TEC collector is the sum of overall electrical efficiency, given
ðasÞeff IðtÞ by Eq. (35) and exergy efficiency of thermal energy, given by Eq.
T bs;tc ¼ þ Ta ð27Þ
½ð1  gtc ÞU tca þ hb  (34). An overall exergy efficiency can be expressed as:

E_ xth
3.4. Improvements in electrical efficiency Overall exergy efficiency ¼ gel þ ð36Þ
E_ xi bL
This section discusses improvements in electrical efficiency,
considering the daily values of electrical energy output. The
improvement in electrical efficiency (gim1 ) of semitransparent PV-
4. Results and discussion
TEC collector [case-(ii)] with respect to semitransparent PV collec-
tor [case-(i)] is given by:
The hourly variation of global solar radiation, IðtÞ, and ambient
Eel½caseðiiÞ  Eel½caseðiÞ air temperature, T a , used for numerical calculations in all the con-
gim1 ¼ ð28Þ sidered cases is shown in Fig. 6. The climatic data used is obtained
Eel½caseðiÞ
from Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune, India for a
The improvement in electrical efficiency (gim2 ) of the proposed typical month of January for New Delhi, India. For the proposed
semitransparent PVT-TEC collector with respect to semitranspar- semitransparent PVT-TEC collector, the average fluid temperature
ent PV collector [case-(i)] is given by: (T f ) is calculated using Eq. (11). And hence, average solar cell tem-
Eel½PVTTEC  Eel½caseðiÞ perature (T sc ), average bottom glass cover temperature (T bs;gs ) and
gim2 ¼ ð29Þ
Eel½caseðiÞ average back-side TEC temperature (T bs;tc ) are obtained from Eqs.
(5)–(7), respectively for the climatic data shown in Fig. 6. The var-
The improvement in electrical efficiency (gim3 ) of the proposed
ious design parameters used are listed in Table 1. Similarly, for
semitransparent PVT-TEC collector with respect to semitranspar-
semitransparent PV collector [case-(i)], the solar cell temperature
ent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)] is given by:
is calculated and in case of semitransparent PV-TEC collector
[case-(ii)], the back-side TEC temperature and solar cell tempera-
Eel½PVTTEC  Eel½caseðiiÞ
gim3 ¼ ð30Þ ture are calculated.
Eel½caseðiiÞ Fig. 7 shows the hourly variation of solar cell temperature and
PV module’s electrical efficiency for the proposed semitransparent
3.5. Exergy analysis of proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector PVT-TEC collector, semitransparent PV collector [case-(i)] and
semitransparent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)]. It can be seen that
This section presents an exergy analysis of the proposed semi- the average solar cell temperature for the proposed semitranspar-
transparent PVT-TEC collector (Fig. 1), based on the second law ent PVT-TEC collector is the lowest. This is due to the transfer of
of thermodynamics. Following Bejan [2] and Yunus and Micheal thermal energy from the back of solar cells to the air flowing below
the TEC module, thereby reducing the average solar cell
[40], an exergy of thermal energy (E_ xth ), i.e. high-grade energy,
temperature. The average solar cell temperature of semitranspar-
obtained from the proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector
ent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)] is higher than that of the proposed
can be calculated, in W, by using the following expression:
semitransparent PVT-TEC collector, as expected, by 0.53–3.66 °C.

 This is due to the absence of any fluid flowing below the TEC
ðT þ 273Þ
E_ xth ¼ m
_ f cf ðT fo  T fi Þ  ðT a þ 273Þln fo ð31Þ module in [case-(ii)]. The average solar cell temperature for
ðT fi þ 273Þ
semitransparent PV collector [case-(i)] is shown to be the highest
An overall exergy of the proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC col- (by 1.174–9.297 °C than the proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC
lector, is the sum of electrical power and exergy of thermal energy, collector). Further, for each case, as the average solar cell
which can be written as: temperature increases, efficiency of the PV module decreases. It
could be a result of higher electrical energy losses at higher
E_ xo ¼ Eel½PVTTEC þ Ex
_ th ð32Þ temperatures due to collision of electrons in depletion region of
Following Petela [22] and Szargut [30], an exergy of IðtÞ, i.e. solar cell.
input exergy, can be evaluated as: The hourly variation of average back-side TEC temperature and
"    4 # overall electrical efficiency for the proposed semitransparent PVT-
_Exi ¼ IðtÞ 1  4 T a þ T a ð33Þ
TEC collector and semitransparent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)] is
3 Ts Ts shown in Fig. 8. As shown, the average back-side TEC temperature
for semitransparent PVT-TEC collector is lower than semitranspar-
where, T a is the ambient temperature in Kelvin and T s is the tem- ent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)], by 0.559–3.857 °C. Due to the pres-
perature of sun, i.e. T s ¼ 6000 K. ence of air duct in the proposed collector below the TEC module,
After calculating exergy of thermal energy from Eq. (31) and thermal energy is withdrawn from the back-side of the TEC mod-
input exergy from Eq. (33), an exergy efficiency of thermal energy ule, thereby reducing the back-side TEC temperature. Also, the
can be obtained as: overall electrical efficiency of the proposed semitransparent PVT-
E_ xth TEC collector is higher than that of [case-(ii)], by 3.07–5.37%. This
Exergy efficiency of thermal energy ¼ ð34Þ corresponds to the lower average solar cell temperature,i.e. higher
_Exi bL
electrical efficiency of PV module, and lower back-side TEC tem-
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74 N. Dimri et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 146 (2017) 68–77

Fig. 6. The hourly variation of global solar radiation, IðtÞ, and ambient temperature, T a .

Fig. 7. Hourly variation of solar cell temperature (T sc ) and PV module’s efficiency (gm ) for proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector, semitransparent PV collector [case-(i)]
and semitransparent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)].

perature, i.e. higher electrical efficiency of TEC module, of the semi- 0.01 kg/s. As the mass flow rate increases, the rate of heat transfer
transparent PVT-TEC collector. between TEC module and fluid increases and therefore the thermal
Fig. 9 depicts the variation of maximum outlet fluid tempera- efficiency increases.
ture (T fomax ) and thermal efficiency with respect to mass flow rate The improvement in electrical efficiency (gim1 ) of semitranspar-
for semitransparent PVT-TEC collector. The maximum outlet fluid ent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)] with respect to semitransparent PV
temperature at mass flow rate of 0.003 kg/s is calculated as collector [case-(i)] is calculated, using Eq. (28), as 0.02429. This
54.611 °C, with a thermal efficiency of 9.64%. Fig. 8 shows that improvement in efficiency corresponds to the fact that the overall
the T fomax decreases from 57.218 °C to 35.405 °C with increase in electrical energy generated by semitransparent PV-TEC collector
the mass flow rate from 0.002 kg/s to 0.01 kg/s. It is due to the fact [case-(ii)] is higher due to the electrical energy produced by TEC
that a lower the mass flow rate allows more time for heat to be module.
transferred from TEC module to the fluid. Hence, lower the mass Fig. 10 shows the variation of daily improvements in electrical
flow rate, higher the outlet fluid temperature. Further, it can be efficiency (gim2 ; gim3 ), described in Section 3.4, with respect to mass
seen that the thermal efficiency (gth ) increases from 6.78% to flow rate. As mass flow rate (m _ f ) increases, the rate of thermal
18.97% with increase in mass flow rate from 0.002 kg/s to energy transferred to the fluid increases, and thus, average solar
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N. Dimri et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 146 (2017) 68–77 75

Fig. 8. Hourly variation of back-side TEC temperature (T bs;tc ) and overall electrical efficiency (gel ) for proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector and semitransparent PV-
TEC collector [case-(ii)].

Fig. 9. Variation of maximum outlet fluid temperature below TEC module (T fomax ) and thermal efficiency (gth ) with mass flow rate (m
_ f ) for proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC
collector.

cell temperature decreases and average back-side TEC temperature

decreases. This leads to an increase in PV module’s electrical effi-
ciency and TEC module’s electrical efficiency, and therefore, the
overall electrical efficiency of the semitransparent PVT-TEC collec-
tor increases. So, by Eqs. (29) and (30), improvements in electrical
efficiency (gim2 ; gim3 ) also increase. At mass flow rate of 0.003 kg/s,
the improvement in electrical efficiency (gim2 ) of the proposed
semitransparent PVT-TEC collector with respect to semitranspar-
ent PV collector [case-(i)] is calculated, using Eq. (29), as
0.07266. And, the improvement in electrical efficiency (gim3 ) of
the proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector with respect to
semitransparent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)] is calculated, using
Eq. (28), as 0.04723.
Eq. (36) has been used to calculate the hourly variation of an
overall exergy efficiency of the proposed semitransparent
Fig. 10. Variation of daily improvements in electrical efficiency (gim2 ; gim3 ) with PVT-TEC collector. The hourly variation of an overall exergy effi-
mass flow rate (m_ f ). ciency of the proposed semitransparent PVT-TEC collector, semi-
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76 N. Dimri et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 146 (2017) 68–77

ht;gs U t
U t;gsa ¼
ht;gs þ U t
ðasÞeff ¼ s2g atc ð1  bsc Þ þ ð1  gtc Þhp1 hp2 ðasÞeff
U t;gstc
hp2 ¼
U t;gsa þ U t;gstc
U t;gsa U t;gstc
U tca ¼
U t;gsa þ U t;gstc
htf ¼ 2:8 þ 3V
ho ¼ 5:7 þ 3:8V; V ¼ 1 m=s
The constants for Eqs. (8)–(11) are

htf
hp3 ¼
Fig. 11. Hourly variation of an overall exergy efficiency for proposed semitrans- ð1  gtc ÞU tca þ htf
parent PVT-TEC collector, semitransparent PV collector [case-(i)] and semitrans- ð1  gtc ÞU tca htf
parent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)]. U fa ¼
ð1  gtc ÞU tca þ htf
transparent PV collector [case-(i)] and semitransparent PV-TEC col-
1
Li 1
lector [case-(ii)] is shown in Fig. 11. It can be seen that the variation Ub ¼ þ
K i hi
of an overall exergy efficiency is the maximum for the proposed
semitransparent PVT-TEC collector, due to the highest electrical
hi ¼ 2:8 þ 3V; V ¼ 1 m=s
efficiency and generation of thermal energy. Further, exergy effi- The expressions for X; Y; Z and W used in Eq. (13) are as follows:
ciency of [case-(ii)] is lower than the proposed semitransparent
PVT-TEC collector, due to absence of an exergy of thermal energy. sg bsc asc ht;gs hp1 ðasÞeff
X¼ þ
However, exergy efficiency of [case-(ii)] is higher than that of U t þ ht;gs ðU t þ ht;gs ÞðU t;gsa þ U t;gstc Þ
[case-(i)]. This is due do higher electrical efficiency of [case-(ii)],
ht;gs U t;gstc ðasÞ ðU fa þ U b Þb
eff
due to generation of additional electrical energy by TEC module. þ
ðU t þ ht;gs ÞðU t;gsa þ U t;gstc Þ½ð1  gtc ÞU tca þ htf ðU fa þ U b Þb
2 8  93
5. Conclusions <1exp ðUfam_ þUc b ÞbL =
ht;gs U t;gstc htf hp3 ðasÞeff 41  f f 5
: ðU fa þU b ÞbL
m_ c
;
The following conclusions are made, based on this study. þ
f f

ðU t þ ht;gs ÞðU t;gsa þ U t;gstc Þ½ð1  gtc ÞU tca þ htf ðU fa þ U b Þb

(i) A thermal model has been developed for the proposed semi- Ut ht;gs U t;gsa
transparent photovoltaic thermal with thermoelectric cooler
Y¼ þ
U t þ ht;gs ðU t þ ht;gs ÞðU t;gsa þ U t;gstc Þ
(PVT-TEC) collector. ht;gs U t;gstc ð1  gtc ÞU tca
(ii) The overall electrical efficiency of the proposed semitrans- þ
ðU t þ ht;gs ÞðU t;gsa þ U t;gstc Þ½ð1  gtc ÞU tca þ htf 
parent PVT-TEC collector is the highest (by 4.723% than 2 8  93
semitransparent PV-TEC collector [case-(ii)] and by 7.266% <1exp ðUfam_ þUc b ÞbL =
than semitransparent PV collector [case-(i)]). ht;gs U t;gstc htf 41  f f 5
: ðU fa þU b ÞbL
m_ c
;
f f
(iii) The overall electrical efficiency of the semitransparent PV- þ
TEC collector [case-(ii)] is higher than semitransparent PV ðU t þ ht;gs ÞðU t;gsa þ U t;gstc Þ½ð1  gtc ÞU tca þ htf 
h  i
collector [case-(i)] by 2.429%, due to the electrical energy ðU fa þU b ÞbL
ht;gs U t;gstc htf 1  exp m_ f cf
generated by TEC module. Z¼ h i
ðU fa þU b ÞbL
(iv) An overall exergy efficiency of the proposed semitransparent ðU t þ ht;gs ÞðU t;gsa þ U t;gstc Þ ð1  gtc ÞU tca þ htf m _ c
f f
PVT-TEC collector is the highest (Fig. 11). sg bsc
(v) The PV module’s electrical efficiency decreases with increase W¼
U t þ ht;gs
in average solar cell temperature.
(vi) The thermal efficiency of semitransparent PVT-TEC collector
increases with mass flow rate.
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