Solar power generation using a two‐stage X‐leg thermoelectric generator with high‐temperature materials

Abstract

Due to the adverse impacts of fossil fuel sources on the environment and human health, research aimed at generating electricity from the sun has gained increased interest. These adverse effects are more pronounced in third-world countries, like Nigeria, which rely heavily on fossil fuel sources for power generation. Nevertheless, Nigeria has an abundant supply of solar energy. Thus, the use of solid-state devices, called thermoelectric generators (TEGs), in harvesting solar energy is a very profitable and clean power generation method. However, these devices are characterised by low efficiencies. Previous scholars showed that altering the thermoelectric leg geometry improved device efficiency. It was also demonstrated that using two-stage TEGs improved device performance. Despite the improvements obtained from these recommendations, we notice that a two-stage TEG design that uses an altered/variable leg geometry configuration has not been designed before. Thus, we present numerical modelling and optimisation of a two-stage TEG with X-leg geometry configuration using isoflux conditions. The optimised parameters are the external load resistance, taper angle of the X-leg and concentration ratio of the solar concentrator. Finally, we consider the effect of using high-temperature materials in a two-stage design.