Energy and exergy analysis of compound parabolic concentrating flat plate water collector integrated with thermoelectric coolers

In the present study, an analysis of a compound parabolic concentrating flat plate water collector integrated with thermoelectric coolers (CPC-TEC collector) has been done based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The thermal and electrical performance of the CPC-TEC collector has been evaluated and compared with hybrid PVT, TEC collectors, and a conventional flat plate collector. Hottel-Whillier-Bliss equation for the CPC-TEC collector has also been developed using an analytical expression of the outlet fluid temperature as a function of design and climatic condition parameters. Numerical computations show that the TEC integrated compound parabolic concentrating flat plate water (CPC-TEC) collector of size 2 m2 produces the highest energy (9.45 kWh) in a day in the climatic conditions of New Delhi, India. It produces 57%, 37%, and 25.7% more energy than the PVT-TEC collector, PVT collector, and conventional FPC collector of the same absorber plate area. Exergy efficiency of the PVT-TEC (21.89%) and PVT (17.57%) collectors is better than TEC collectors. Study of the packing factor of TEC modules on the overall energy generation from the CPC-TEC collector shows that increasing the packing factor from 0.25 to 1 increases the overall energy by only 5%.