Feasibility Study of Using Thermoelectric Modules for Cooling Photovoltaic Cells

Photovoltaic cells utilize the solar radiation to generateelectric power. As the efficiencies of these cells highlydepend on temperature, the goal of this paper is to study thefeasibility of improving the net output power by usingthermoelectric cooling. A parametric study of the availableradiation at different environmental temperatures isperformed. The results demonstrate that by utilizing theTEC modules, the efficiency of these cells can be increasedif an appropriate amount of current is supplied to themodule. Furthermore, as the irradiance increases, the powergained from the cooled modules becomes increasinglyhigher than that of uncooled ones. Also, at an optimumirradiance the net power output reaches a maximumamount.

Keywords:

Solar energy , Photovoltaic cells , Thermoelectric cooling , Peltier effect