Dimensional Analysis of Thermoelectric Modules Under Constant Heat Flux

Suzuki, Ryosuke O.; Fujisaka, Takeyuki; Ito, Kohei; Meng, Xiang‐Guo; Sui, Hongtao

doi:10.1007/s11664-014-3314-z

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…In these cases, the final hot and cold temperatures and the corresponding temperature gradient through the device depend on the heat flux, the cooling capacity of the cold end, and the heat losses. Some analytical and numerical approaches can be found under these constraints for bulk thermoelectric generators in previous works …”

Section: Efficiency and Output Power Calculated Values Of Tgsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the Efficiency of Thin Film Thermoelectric Generators under Constant Heat Flux by Using Substrates of Low Thermal Conductivity

Morales

Flores

Ares

et al. 2018

Physica Rapid Research Ltrs

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Thin film thermoelectric generators performance needs to be improved to be competitive with their bulk counterpartners. Here, a method has been proposed to enhance the efficiency of non‐conventional thin film thermoelectric generators, i.e., those with heat running parallel to the film surface, under constant heat flux configuration. This geometry offers the possibility to decouple the thermal and electronic transport via an adequate selection of the film and substrate thermal conductivities and their respective thicknesses. An analysis of those parameters and their relationships in order to reach the maximum thin film thermoelectric generators efficiency is presented in this work. It has been concluded that under well‐established conditions, the thin film thermoelectric generators efficiency is clearly increased and becomes comparable to that of the bulk thermoelectric generators under constant heat flux. This novel framework can lead to the use of devices based on compounds with high power factor regardless of their thermal conductivity.

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Section: Efficiency and Output Power Calculated Values Of Tgsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving the Efficiency of Thin Film Thermoelectric Generators under Constant Heat Flux by Using Substrates of Low Thermal Conductivity

Morales

Flores

Ares

et al. 2018

Physica Rapid Research Ltrs

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“…For instance, studies on TEGs for waste heat recovery have shown a strong influence of heat exchanger parameters such as channel width, channel height, fin type, fin density, and fin thickness along with convective, conductive, and contact thermal resistances. , TEG performance for body energy harvesting has been found to be dictated by internal thermal resistance, which must be high and comparable to the parasitic thermal resistances in series with the TEG. − Thermal resistance/impedance matching studies have shown that maximum TEG power is obtained when the temperature drop across the module is nearly equal to half of the temperature difference between heat source and heat sink. , Systematic assessment of TEG for solar energy harvesting and other radiant heat recovery systems requires a different analytical approach than the traditional modeling, where TEGs are usually subjected to a constant temperature condition. Under the constant heat flux condition, the hot-side temperature is not fixed but depends on the inward heat flux and the heat transfer capacity at the cold-side. − …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Performance Thermoelectric Generators for Field Deployments

Kishore

Nozariasbmarz

Poudel

et al. 2020

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Thermoelectric power generation is a reliable energy harvesting technique for directly converting heat into electricity. Recent studies have reported the thermal-toelectrical energy conversion efficiency of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) up to 11% under laboratory settings. However, the practical efficiency of TEGs deployed under real environments is still not more than a few percent. In this study, we provide fundamental insight on the operation of TEGs in realistic environments by illustrating the combinatory effect of thermoelectric material properties, device boundary conditions, and environmental thermal resistivity on TEG performance in conjunction with the module parameters. Using numerical and experimental studies, we demonstrate the existence of a critical heat transfer coefficient that dramatically affects the design and performance of TEGs. Results provide a set of concrete design criteria for developing efficient TEGs that meet the metrics for field deployments. High-performance TEGs demonstrated in this study generated up to 28% higher power and 162% higher power per unit mass of thermoelectric materials as compared to the commercial module deployed for low-grade waste heat recovery. This advancement in understanding the TEG operation will have a transformative impact on the development of scalable thermal energy harvesters and in realizing their practical targets for efficiency, power density, and total output power.

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“…Our previous works discussed the basic TE phenomenon under constant thermal conditions for various module designs, i.e. fixed the temperature or the heat flux on hot and cold surfaces and analyzed TE performance of the helical and conventional straight panels, as well as modules consisting of tilted parallelogram-and polyhedron-shaped thermo-elements [5][6][7][8][9] . However, the most likely approach to utilize the residual heat of waste fluids is to allow the high-temperature gas and liquid to flow on module surfaces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermoelectric Generation Using Counter-Flows of Ideal Fluids

Meng

Zhu

et al. 2017

Journal of Elec Materi

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Thermoelectric (TE) performance of a three-dimensional (3D) TE module is examined by exposing it between a pair of counter-flows of ideal fluids. The ideal fluids as thermal sources of TE module flow in the opposite direction at same flow rate and generate temperature difference on the hot and cold surfaces due to their different temperature at channel inlet. TE performance caused by different inlet temperature of thermal fluids are numerically analyzed by using finite-volume method on 3D meshed physical models and then compared with those of using constant boundary temperature. The results show that voltage and current of TE module increase gradually from a beginning moment to a steady flow and reach a stable value. The stable values increase with inlet temperature of hot fluid when inlet temperature of cold fluid is fixed. However, the time to get the stable values is almost consistent for all the temperature differences. Moreover, the trend of TE performance using fluid flow boundary is similar to that of using constant boundary temperature. Further, 3D contours of fluid pressure, temperature, enthalpy, electromotive force, current density and heat flux are exhibited in order to clarify the influence of counter-flows of ideal fluids on TE generation. The current density and heat flux homogeneously distribute on entire TE module, thus indicating that the counter-flows of thermal fluids have high potential to bring fine performance for TE module.

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Dimensional Analysis of Thermoelectric Modules Under Constant Heat Flux

Cited by 14 publications

References 21 publications

Improving the Efficiency of Thin Film Thermoelectric Generators under Constant Heat Flux by Using Substrates of Low Thermal Conductivity

Improving the Efficiency of Thin Film Thermoelectric Generators under Constant Heat Flux by Using Substrates of Low Thermal Conductivity

High-Performance Thermoelectric Generators for Field Deployments

Thermoelectric Generation Using Counter-Flows of Ideal Fluids

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