Predicting performance of thermal-electrical cycles in pyroelectric power generation

Abstract

A method is proposed to predict the power generation performance of a pyroelectric generator (PEG) for waste-heat recovery systems in which an external electric field is applied to a ferroelectric material in synchrony with rapid temperature changes. The net generated energy density N D of the PEG at any temperature and electric field is predicted for two thermal-electrical cycles (including the Olsen cycle). This is done by approximating the dependence of the polarization density on temperature and electric field using hysteresis loop measurements. The difference between the predicted and measured values of N D was less than 15%. This method could be used to screen promising candidate materials for PEGs.

Improvement of Power Recovery by Applying a Multi-Pulse Electric Field in the Thermoelectric Cycle Power Generation Process with Pyroelectric Materials

“…The ABCDA region of Figure 1 contains an illustration of this cycle. Yoonho Kim et al constructed a unique electro-thermodynamic cycle by merging the Olsen and Stirling cycles with a circuit made up of a diode and two switches (DSW circuit) [22,23,[29][30][31][32][33]. According to Figure 1, the Kim cycle consists of four processes: two isothermal processes (A-B and C-E), one iso-displacement process (B-C), and two isoelectric processes (E-A).…”