Introduction

From both the technical and the production  point of view, the invention allows to drastically simplify the solar cells’ cooling technology and that of thermoelectric conversion. It is made possible due to the Seebeck effect, by integrating the heat exchanger so far separated in the conventional products from the thermoelectric converter. As a result, cascading economic advantages are claimed, in respect of the overall costs of the system.

Technical features

Being continuously exposed to solar radiation, photovoltaic cells are usually affected by excessive overheating which results in their rapid degradation over time. For the same reason, the energy production efficiency decrease, too. To overcome these issues, the proposed integrated cooling system removes heat from the cells during harsh  solar radiation times. In comparison with existing products exploiting the Seebeck-Peltier effect, within the patented system the given effect occurs instead internally, to the same heat exchanger acting as a support for the cells, to the same heat exchanger acting as a support for the cells. Therefore, there is a complete independence between heat exchange efficiency and thermoelectric generation efficiency, since only part of the removed heat passes through the thermocouples.

Possible Applications

The sistem can be used for cooling conventional solar panels, deployed in:

• Construction industry;
• Tertiary sector;
• Residential sector.

Advantages

• Dimension reduction resulting in greater compactness, sturdiness and ease of assembly;
• Greater efficiency of photoelectric conversion of the panels;
• Lower overall costs compared to similar systems.