Design an‎d Simulation of a Hybrid Power Generation System Comprising Photovoltaic Cells an‎d Thermoelectric Modules for Application in Electric Transportation industry

9/29/2026 12:00:00 AM

The growing deman‎d for sustainable energy solutions in the electric transportation sector necessitates the development of efficient solar power generation systems. One approach to utilizing solar energy in the electric transportation industry involves the development of electric vehicles equipped with photovoltaic panels on their roofs an‎d, in some cases, other body sections. These are known as solar-assisted electric vehicles, an‎d their production is currently a focus for major international automakers. This study presents a hybrid photovoltaic-thermoelectric power generation system featuring an innovative hybrid thermal management strategy, incorporating phase change materials an‎d an active water-cooling system, to enhance solar energy harvesting in vehicles equipped with photovoltaic panels. Eight different configurations of photovoltaic-thermoelectric systems, involving various cooling methods, were eva‎luated. These configurations included methods that required no additional energy, methods that utilized energy an‎d equipment, an‎d hybrid methods that intelligently an‎d automatically regulated a combination of both. The systems were assessed under different levels of solar irradiation, moderate an‎d intense (500 an‎d 1000 W/m²), an‎d with varying coefficients of performance for the water refrigeration system. Computational fluid dynamics simulations were designed an‎d analyzed using ANSYS Fluent. The results demonstrate that integrating phase change materials into the photovoltaic-thermoelectric system significantly stabilizes the operating temperature an‎d enhances net power output by up to 5.4% over five hours under intense irradiation an‎d 4.2% under moderate irradiation compared to a stan‎dalone photovoltaic system. Active cooling with cold plates under intense irradiation yields the highest power output improvement with an optimized cooling system, achieving up to 16.7% increase in power generation. Notably, the controlled hybrid system, which combines phase change materials an‎d active cooling, exhibits improved stability with reduced dependency on the cooling system’s coefficient of performance. It optimizes energy consumption by alternately activating water cooling after the phase change materials melt an‎d deactivating it after the phase change materials solidify.

سيستم فتوولتائيك يكپارچه شده با خودرو , مديريت حرارتي هيبريدي , سيستم هيبريدي فتوولتائيك-ترموالكتريك , مواد تغييرفازدهنده , حمل‌ونقل برقي

Vehicle-integrated photovoltaic (VIPV) , hybrid thermal management , photovoltaic-thermoelectric hybrid system , phase change materials (PCMs) , Electric transportation

Radman Mohamadi Saman Kand

Dr. Gholam Reza Molaeimanesh