Effects of environmental factors on the conversion efficiency of solar thermoelectric co-generators comprising parabola trough collectors and thermoelectric modules without evacuated tubular collector

The effects of environmental factors on the conversion efficiencies of a newly designed solar thermoelectric co-generator (STECG) are reported. The STECG incorporates a parabolic trough concentrator with thermoelectric modules, but without glass tubular collectors, and in which electric power and heat can be supplied simultaneously under a wide range of conditions. In simulation, the electrical efficiency of the system increases with increasing solar insolation, but decreases with increasing ambient temperature and wind velocity for ZT = 0.64 as a realistic case. Solar selective absorbing temperature (Tp) is also calculated.