Design and evaluation of a hybrid solar thermphotovoltaic-thermoelectric system

In a solar thermophotovoltaic (STPV) system, TPV cells only use part of the energy emitted by the emitter, and most of the energy is wasted in the form of high-temperature thermal radiation. To completely utilize the high-temperature thermal radiation to improve the efficiency of the STPV system, a hybrid solar thermophotovoltaic-thermoelectric (STPV-TE) system is proposed. The non-contact installation method of the TPV cell and TE module eliminates the temperature interaction between them. The theoretical model and analysis method of the hybrid STPV-TE system are established. The STPV-TE experimental system consists of a commercial GaSb TPV cell and Bi₂Te₃ TE module. The experimental results showed that the STPV-TE system can promote the efficiency of the STPV system. The total efficiency of the STPV-TE system amounts to 5.91%, of which the TPV cell efficiency of 1.06% and the total efficiency of the four TE modules efficiency is 4.85%. The efficiency of the solo STPV system is 1.44%. The design method of the hybrid STPV-TE system proposes a new method of constructing the STPV-TE system.