Abstract Combining the photovoltaic (PV) and thermoelectric (TE) technologies to form a hybrid PV-TE system is considered as a promising way to utilize the unwanted heat accumulated in the solar cell. This paper comprehensively analyzes and optimizes the performance and fatigue failure of a concentrated PV-TE system with the segmented TE model. The results demonstrate that the power output and efficiency of the hybrid PV-TE systems with segmented TE model can be greatly enhanced compared to those of the hybrid PV-TE systems with the uniform TE model. For the solar cell with bigger efficiency correction coefficient, a larger combined heat loss results in a higher power output and efficiency. Conversely, the power output and efficiency decrease with the combined heat loss. The optimized height of TE model corresponding to the highest performance decreases with the height ratio of the upper to lower TE leg. The length of the TE leg has little influence on the optimized height of the TE module. The combined heat loss by radiation and convection can improve the fatigue life of the hybrid system. A balance between the enhancement of fatigue life and decrease in the total efficiency can be obtained by adjusting the solar concentration ratio of the solar cell for different wind velocities.

中文翻译：

---

分段式光伏-热电混合系统的性能评估与寿命预测

摘要 结合光伏 (PV) 和热电 (TE) 技术形成混合 PV-TE 系统被认为是利用太阳能电池中积累的不需要的热量的有前途的方法。本文采用分段TE模型对集中式PV-TE系统的性能和疲劳失效进行综合分析和优化。结果表明，与具有统一 TE 模型的混合 PV-TE 系统相比，具有分段 TE 模型的混合 PV-TE 系统的功率输出和效率可以大大提高。对于效率校正系数较大的太阳能电池，较大的综合热损失导致较高的功率输出和效率。相反，功率输出和效率会随着热损失的增加而降低。最高性能对应的 TE 模型的优化高度随着上下 TE 腿的高度比降低。TE 腿的长度对 TE 模块的优化高度几乎没有影响。辐射和对流的综合热损失可以提高混合系统的疲劳寿命。通过针对不同风速调整太阳能电池的太阳能集中比，可以在提高疲劳寿命和降低总效率之间取得平衡。