Electrical, Thermal, and Mechanical Characterization of Novel Segmented-Leg Thermoelectric Modules

Abstract

In this paper we report on the electrical, thermal, and mechanical characterization of segmented-leg PbTe-based thermoelectric modules. This work featured a thermoelectric module measurement system that was constructed and used to measure 47-couple segmented thermoelectric power generation modules fabricated by Tellurex Corporation using n-type Bi 2 Te 3Àx Se x to Ag 0.86 Pb 19+x SbTe 20 legs and p-type Bi x Sb 2Àx Te 3 to Ag 0.9 Pb 9 Sn 9 Sb 0.6 Te 20 legs. The modules were measured under vacuum with hot-side and cold-side temperatures of approximately 670 K and 312 K, respectively. In addition, the measurements on the PbTe-based materials are compared with measurements performed on Bi 2 Te 3 reference modules. Efficiency values as high as 6.56% were measured on these modules. In addition to the measurement system description and the measurement results on these modules, infrared images of the modules that were used to help identify nonuniformities are also presented.

Realizing Excellent Thermoelectric Performance of Sb2Te3 Based Segmented Leg with a Wide Temperature Range Using One‐Step Sintering

“…Recently, great progress has been achieved in enhancing thermoelectric performance via band engineering, [4] quantum confinement, [5] nanostructuring, [6] and hierarchical architecturing. Zhang et al [10b] fabricated the Bi 2 Te 3 -based and CoSb 3 -based segmented modules, and achieved a high efficiency up to 12% under a temperature difference of 541 K. D'Angelo et al [12] fabricated a Bi 2 Te 3 -based/PbTe-based segmented module with an efficiency of 6.56% at the temperature difference of ≈360 K. In these reports mentioned above, researchers also pointed out that the efficiency could be further improved if the contact resistivity To achieve a wide temperature range and a high figure-of-merit, segmented assembling is considered as the most effective method based on optimized low-temperature and medium-temperature thermoelectric materials. Segmented TE devices proposed in 1961 by Swanson et al [9] are generally considered as the most effective method to achieve high conversion efficiency.…”

Configuration of segmented leg for the enhanced performance of segmented thermoelectric generator

“…The temperature dependent properties (Table I) are obtained from literature [26]. The temperature dependent properties (Table I) are obtained from literature [26].…”

Segmented thermoelectric generator: Influence of pin shape configuration on the device performance

“…The temperature dependent properties (Table 1) are obtained from literature [19]. The following material parameters have been used in the analysis as default values:…”

“…Properties of Modified Lead and Bismuth Telluride[19] used in simulations (T is the temperature in K).Material: n-type modified lead telluride Ag 0.8 Pb 19þx SbTe 20 Electrical conductivity (S/cm) s ¼ 1462 À 10.419T þ 0.031315T 2 À 4.0429 Â 10 À5 T 3 þ 1.9034 Â 10 À8 T 4 Seebeck coefficient (mV/K) a ¼ 173.26 À 3.8229T þ 0.011679T 2 À 1.5584 Â 10 À5 T 3 þ 7.6695 Â 10 À9 T 4Material: n-type modified bismuth telluride Bi 2 Te 3Àx Se x…”