LAUSR

A photovoltaic–thermoelectric (PV–TE) hybrid system can be used for efficient thermal energy utilization from the generated waste heat in PV devices. In this article, an efficient PV–TE hybrid system with intelligent power-track switching technique and thermal management based on energy conversion is proposed. To make the output power of PV–TE system stable and normalized, an incorporated stable voltage circuit is designed based on energy conversion. In addition, a control-and-monitoring strategy is launched in the system to realize the normal collecting for the output power of PV–TE system. Finally, a battery protection circuit is performed to ensure that the energy converted by the entire system is effectively stored. The experimental results show that more electrical energy about 84 034 J was obtained with our energy harvesting system than that of a single photovoltaic (PV) cell. Besides, the thermal gradient of PV cells is indirectly reduced the operation of the whole system, which is automatically monitored due to the proposed intelligent power-track switching technique.