Experimental study and performance analysis of a thermoelectric cooling and heating system driven by a photovoltaic/thermal system in summer and winter operation modes

• Thermoelectric heating system driven by heat pipe PV/T system was built and test.
• Theoretical analysis has been done and simulation results have been validated by experiments.
• The energetic efficiency and exergetic efficiency in summer and winter operation mode was analyzed and compared.

This paper presents theoretical and experimental investigations of the winter operation mode of a thermoelectric cooling and heating system driven by a heat pipe photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) panel. And the energy and exergy analysis of this system in summer and winter operation modes are also done. The winter operation mode of this system is tested in an experimental room which temperature is controlled at 18 °C. The results indicate the average coefficient of performance (COP) of thermoelectric module of this system can be about 1.7, the electrical efficiency of the PV/T panel can reach 16.7%, and the thermal efficiency of this system can reach 23.5%. The energy and exergy analysis show the energetic efficiency of the system in summer operation mode is higher than that of it in winter operation mode, but the exergetic efficiency in summer operation mode is lower than that in winter operation mode, on the contrary.