Experimental investigation of solar thermoelectric (STEG) co-generation system.

Abstract The solar thermoelectric generation（STEG）cogeneration system can provide heating and electric power simultaneously. Precedent studies on the STEG system were focused on getting higher electrical efficiency of the system and creating a new record. Optimization of thermal performance and evaluation of thermal efficiency are usually completed by calculation or numerical simulation. In this paper, a novel design of STEG cogeneration system was proposed. The system can work in three modes according to seasonal demand of hot water and electric power. A series of experiments were carried out in different working modes under variable conditions to evaluate the performance of the system. The results show that the system can generate 0.2 kW·h of electrical energy and about 100L of hot water at 41 °C in 1 day when solar irradiation is 1000 W/m2. The collector efficiency and electrical efficiency are calculated to be 42.2% and 2.1%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]