Utilizing the evaporative cooling to enhance the performance of a solar TEG system and to produce distilled water

This paper introduces a novel solar thermoelectric generator distillation system. The proposed system consists of a parabolic solar concentrator, thermoelectric generator, a porous evaporator and an internal condenser. A steady state mathematical model of the proposed system has been developed and simulated. The proposed mathematical model has shown overall efficiency range of (15-25%), TEMs efficiency range of (0.6-1.5%), distillate range of (1.5-3)-kg/day and output power range of (0.8-3.5)-W for solar radiation range of (400-800)-W/m2 and ambient temperature of 298-K with wind speed of 5 m/s. These ranges can be higher for higher ambient temperatures and lower wind speeds. The results are in a good agreement with those obtained by similar published theoretical and experimental studies.