Energy and Exergy Study of a Nanofluid-based Solar System Integrated with a Quadruple Effect Absorption Cycle and Thermoelectric Generator

The exploitation of nanofluids is the most noteworthy way to make better the rate of heat transfer in solar collectors. Moreover, recently utilizing thermoelectric generators are widely studied to direct the conversion of heat into electricity. The objective of the present study is to deal with a novel multigeneration system that includes a nanofluid-based parabolic trough collector integrated with a quadruple effect absorption refrigeration cycle (cooling), a thermoelectric generator (power), a PEM electrolyzer (hydrogen), vapor generator and domestic water heater. A parametric study is accomplished to consider the effect of significant parameters such as the volume concentration of nanoparticles, solar radiation, absorption system’s generator load, strong solution concentration, and TEG’s figure of merit on the overall system performance, hydrogen production rate, cooling load, COP and useful energy obtained by the collector. It is observed that the power generated by the system is 18.78 kW and the collector energy and exergy efficiency are 82.21% and 80.48%, respectively.  Furthermore, the results showed that the highest exergy destruction rate occurs in the solar system at the rate of 4461 kW. The energy and exergy COPs of the absorption chiller are discovered to be 1.527 and 0.936, respectively. By increasing the concentration of nanoparticles and the amount of solar radiation, the amount of collector useful energy increases while the hydrogen production rate and the generated power in the TEG decreased. The cooling capacity and COPs of the absorption system increased with an increase in VHTG load and decreased with an increase in concentration of the strong solution.