• Introducing a hybrid liquid air energy storage system and performing comprehensive analyses. • Reaching a round trip efficiency of 61.6% and a total storage energy density of 109.4 MJ/m 3 . • Achieving a payback period of 3.5 years with total profit of $26 million for the case study of California state. • Detailed exergy and economic analyses of the proposed system. • Optimization of the charging and discharging pressures as the critical parameters. Liquid air energy storage (LAES), as a grid-scale energy storage technology, has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In spite of the significant advantages of the LAES such as high energy density and fast-response ability that makes it a practical choice to alleviate the fluctuations of renewable energies, the low efficiency is an important challenge for the LAES. To address this issue, a novel green and operative concept based on a combination of the LAES with the Kalina cycle and thermoelectric generator is introduced in the present research. This hybridization not only assists further development of both the LAES and renewable energies, but it also assists grid stability by peak shaving and peak shifting. Thermodynamic analysis revealed that this green combination results in a round trip efficiency of 61.6%. Moreover, this system has a great total storage energy density of 109.4 MJ/m 3 . To confirm the economic feasibility of the reference system, a precise economic analysis for the case study of California, USA indicated a payback period of 3.5 years and profitability of over $26 million during its economic book life. 

Thermodynamic and economic analyses of a novel liquid air energy storage (LAES) coupled with thermoelectric generator and Kalina cycle

Critical factors and parameters for Hybrid Photovoltaic-Thermoelectric Systems; Review

Abstract A thermoelectric generation (TEG) system has the weakness of relatively low thermoelectric conversion efficiency caused by heterogeneous temperature distribution (HgTD). Dynamic reconfiguration is an effective technique to improve its overall energy efficiency under HgTD. Nevertheless, numerous combinations of electrical switches make dynamic reconfiguration a complex combinatorial optimization problem. This paper aims to design a novel adaptive coordinated seeker (ACS) based on an optimal configuration strategy for large-scale TEG systems with series–parallel connected modules under HgTDs. To properly balance global exploration and local exploitation, ACS is based on ‘divide-and-conquer’ parallel computing, which synthetically coordinates the local searching capability of tabu search (TS) and the global searching capability of a pelican optimization algorithm (POA) during iterations. In addition, an equivalent re-optimization strategy for a reconfiguration solution obtained by meta-heuristic algorithms (MhAs) is proposed to reduce redundant switching actions caused by the randomness of MhAs. Two case studies are carried out to assess the feasibility and superiority of ACS in comparison with the artificial bee colony algorithm, ant colony optimization, genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, simulated annealing algorithm, TS, and POA. Simulation results indicate that ACS can realize fast and stable dynamic reconfiguration of a TEG system under HgTDs. In addition, RTLAB platform-based hardware-in-the-loop experiments are carried out to further validate the hardware implementation feasibility. 

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Farzad Tohidi

Papers

Thermoelectric Generators: A comprehensive review of characteristics and applications

Performance enhancement in hybrid static power generation by AMTEC–TEG systems: Energy, exergy, and interactions analyses and optimizations