Performance analysis of an integrated solar based thermo-electric and desalination system

In this paper, the performance of a novel multi-generation solar system is evaluated at different working conditions. The proposed system is able to produce electric power, distilled water and hot water, concurrently. The performance of the main components including thermoelectric generator, thermal energy storage, desalination unit and hot water tank is modeled mathematically, and then evaluated at different working conditions using the second law of thermodynamics. The effects of working temperature and solar irradiation are also investigated as the key operational parameters. Moreover, the Genetic algorithm is employed to determine the optimum working conditions for the minimum thermodynamic irreversibility. The results indicate that using 960 MJ/d of incident solar energy, the system produces 896 kJ/d electrical energy, 177 kg/d distilled water and 29,000 kg/d hot water. The maximum energy and exergy efficiency of the integrated system is about 46 and 1.5%, respectively. The outcomes of this research confirm the suitability of such a system for residential application.