Review of solar, heat pipe and thermoelectric hybrid systems for power generation and heating

Solar energy is a renewable energy heat source freely and widely available everywhere throughout the year. Heat pipes are very effective and passive heat transfer devices. A solar heat pipe collector performs well at high temperatures. Thermoelectricity could be utilized for power generation and provide cooling and heating. The combination of a solar heat pipe collector with thermoelectric modules could provide a very useful device for simultaneous power generation and hot water heating. Such hybrid systems could offer small, mobile, transportable and off-grid power and heating systems for small-scale industry or domestic applications. This paper reviews some of the works conducted on the solar/heat pipe/thermoelectric hybrid system.