1Division of Energy and Sustainability, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, United Kingdom
This paper presents an experimental study of a hybrid thermoelectric module/ vacuum heat-pipe solar collectors which can be used under low solar irradiation. The prototype solar/thermoelectric (TE) collector unit comprised a vacuum heat-pipe solar collector, a TE module and an aluminum heat sink. One side is connected to header and the other side is connected to water circuit. A system includes six solar/TE collectors, water circuit including a tank, pump and pipework. A halogen lighting array simulated solar irradiance. Temperatures, flow rates, solar intensity and power consumption were measured. Experiments were carried out at three conditions at constant flow rate of 0.3l/min. Tests were carried out under different TE power input, at constant solar irradiation. Tests were repeated without irradiation, and finally tests were carried out at different irradiation levels at constant electrical current. It was found that: (1) With increase in power, energy efficiency increases, temperature difference of hot side and cold side increases, but COP decreases. The maximum energy efficiency was 0.62. The maximum temperature difference was 27.10°C. (2) Without irradiation, maximum COP was 12.27 and the minimum was 0.81. The maximum and minimum temperature differences were 27.89°C and 3.12°C. (3) Without power supplied, energy efficiency was much lower than test (1) under the same solar intensity. The maximum was 0.28 and the minimum was 0.26 when intensity was 590.84W/m2 and 301.73W/m2. (4) The way of improving system efficiency may be to increase the flow rate of water and increase the temperature difference of TE’s cold side and hot side.
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How to cite this article
Liu, L., Worall, M. and Riffat, S. (2012). 'Investigation on Solar/Thermoelectric Collectors'. SET Proceedings, 11(1), pp. 889-897. https://doi.org/10.65582/set.2012.090
