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Tested solar cell with one TEG

A project log for Hybrid Thermoelectric Solar Cell

Novel power harvesting module integrates the energy harvesting abilities of a thermoelectric generator with a solar cell to maximize output

neelNeel 07/16/2018 at 05:240 Comments

I have taped a TEG onto the back of a solar cell. The TEG is attached to the heat sink using the thermal conductive tape it came with. The hot side of the TEG is put into contact with the back of the solar panel. The heat sink is exposed to the surrounding air. I am wondering how well the heat sink works in keeping a temperature difference.

The day is reached a temperatures at around a 90 degrees. After a full day of exposing the setup to the sun I am sad to say that the max that I recorded on the particle photon was .05 volts. At this point four TEG modules would only produce a max of .2 volts with most likely low amperage. I believe this is because the heat sink is small enough that it is easily heated from the surrounding environment

I will need to figure out how to passively keep the cold side of the TEG module cool. I will be testing a water heat coupling to see if it will help create a larger temperature difference for a shorter period of time.

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