A conceptual design of the thermoelectric power conversion system combined with open rack type LNG (liquefied natural gas) vaporizer to make use of cold heat of LNG is presented. The system performance analysis has been made based on the thermoelectric module performance data obtained at the cryogenic thermoelectric (CTE) test rig which could realize temperature and fluid dynamic condition of the open rack type LNG vaporizer. Conventional bismuth-telluride thermoelectric modules were tested, however, each module is encapsulated in the stainless steel container to achieve water proof. Electricity production cost evaluation of the system is also discussed.

Performance of thermoelectric (TE) modules for the TE power conversion system combined with open rack type LNG vaporizer (ORV) is discussed. Most of the conventional BiTe TE modules suffer sudden decrease of the power at cryogenic temperature as low as -160ºC. This is called as Mayer-Marschall effect. Authors investigated the cause of this effect and found TE modules that could avoid such effect. Performance data of such TE modules obtained at the cryogenic thermoelectric (CTE) test rig which could realize temperature and fluid dynamic condition of the ORV is presented. 13sudden decrease of the power at cryogenic temperature as low as -160ºC. We called it as Mayer-Marschall effect, however, the cause of this effect was not investigated yet.In this paper, the investigation on the Mayer-Marschall effect conducted so far is described. The authors clarified the mechanism of this effect and found TE modules that could avoid such effect and provide excellent performance in cryogenic temperature. Performance data of such TE modules are presented.