Design and characterization of hybrid III-V Concentrator Photovoltaic–Thermoelectric receivers under primary and secondary optical elements

Sweet, T.K.N. et al. (2018) Design and characterization of hybrid III-V Concentrator Photovoltaic–Thermoelectric receivers under primary and secondary optical elements. Applied Energy, 226, pp. 772-783. (doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.06.018)

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Abstract

Lattice-matched monolithic triple-junction Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) cells (InGa(0.495)P/GaIn(0.012)As/Ge) were electrically and thermally interfaced to two Thermoelectric (TE) Peltier module designs. An electrical and thermal model of the hybrid receivers was modelled in COMSOL Multiphysics software v5.3 to improve CPV cell cooling whilst increasing photon energy conversion efficiency. The receivers were measured for current-voltage characteristics with the CPV cell only (with sylguard encapsulant), under single secondary optical element (SOE) at x2.5 optical concentration, and under Fresnel lens primary optical element (POE) concentration between x313 and x480. Measurements were taken in solar simulators at Cardiff and Jaén Universities, and on-sun with dual-axis tracking at Jaén University. The hybrid receivers were electrically, thermally and theoretically investigated. The electrical performance data for the cells under variable irradiance and cell temperature conditions were measured using the integrated thermoelectric module as both a temperature sensor and as a solid-state heat pump. The performance of six SOE-CPV-TE hybrid devices were evaluated within two 3-receiver strings under primary optical concentration with measured acceptance angles of 1.00o and 0.89o, similar to commercially sourced CPV modules. A six-parameter one-diode equivalent electrical model was developed for the multi-junction CPV cells with SOE and POE. This was applied to extract six model parameters with the experimental I-V curves of type A receiver at 1, 3 and 500 concentration ratios. Standard test conditions (1000W/m2, 25oC and AM1.5G spectrum) were assumed based on trust-region-reflective least squares algorithm in MATLAB. The model fitted the experimental I-V curves satisfactorily with a mean error of 4.44%, and the optical intensity gain coefficient of SOE and POE is as high as 0.91, in comparison with 0.50-0.86 for crossed compound parabolic concentrators (CCPC). The determined values of diode reverse saturation current, combined series resistance and shunt resistance were similar to those of monocrystalline PV cell/modules in our previous publications. The model may be applicable to performance prediction of multi-junction CPV cells in the future.

Item Type:Articles
Keywords:Concentrator photovoltaic, triple-junction solar cell, thermoelectric, cell temperature, secondary optical element, optimization
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Knox, Professor Andrew and Li, Dr Wenguang and Paul, Professor Manosh
Authors: Sweet, T.K.N., Rolley, M.H., Li, W., Paul, M.C., Johnson, A., Davies, J.I., Tuley, R., Simpson, K., Almonacid, F.M., Fernandez, E.F., and Knox, A.R.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
College of Science and Engineering > School of Mathematics and Statistics > Mathematics
Journal Name:Applied Energy
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:0306-2619
ISSN (Online):0306-2619
Published Online:13 June 2018
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2018 The Authors
First Published:First published in Applied Energy 226:772-783
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
614241Scalable Solar Thermoelectrics and Photovaltaics (SUNTRAP)Andrew KnoxEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/K022156/1ENG - ENGINEERING ELECTRONICS & NANO ENG