International Journal of Energy Research, Vol.45, No.3, 3979-3987, 2021
The influence of the bandgap on the photovoltaic-thermoelectric hybrid system
The photovoltaic-thermoelectric hybrid system (PVTE) is less sensitive to the photon wavelength than the pure PV system. This phenomenon can make the PVTE to be a good method of obtaining electrical energy from solar energy. A challenge of this system is how to distribute the energy in the working process. To solve this problem, this paper establishes a thermodynamic model to study the energy matching mechanism of the hybrid system. The influence of dynamic solar radiation has been considered in the model. The result indicates that the relationship between the PVTE efficiency and the PV bandgap looks like a "reverse U" (rises first and falls later). The impacts of the optical concentration ratio and the TE parameters on the optimal PV bandgap are studied. No matter how these two parameters change, the optimal PV bandgap of the PVTE is around 1.15 eV. It illustrates that the energy match does not depend on the solar radiation and the TE parameters. The effect of the phase change material has also been considered. The melting temperature, mass and heat capacity of the phase change material have been considered in the numerical model. The melting temperature is proved to be important for determining whether it needs to use the phase change material and how much heat should be stored.