Simulation-driven design of a passive liquid cooling system for a thermoelectric generator

Deasy, Mary; Baudin, Nicolas; O’Shaughnessy, S.M.; Robinson, A.J.

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.07.127

Cited by 36 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…One of the important components here is cooling, which can be categorized into active and passive cooling (Figure 1). At first glance, passive cooling [6][7][8][9][10][11] is preferable because it does not affect the electrical net output power. However, since the yield depends directly on the temperature difference, the relatively high thermal resistance of passive cooling has a negative effect on the yield.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water-Cooled Thermoelectric Generators for Improved Net Output Power: A Review

2021

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Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) have the ability to convert waste heat into electrical energy under unfavorable conditions and are becoming increasingly popular in academia, but have not yet achieved a broad commercial success, due to the still comparably low efficiency. To increase the efficiency and economic viability of TEGs, research is performed on the materials on one hand and on the system connection on the other. In the latter case, the net output power of the cooling system plays a key role. At first glance, passive cooling seems preferable to active cooling because it does not affect the net electrical output power. However, as shown in the present review, the active cooling is to be preferred for net output power. The situation is similar in air and water-cooling. Even though air-cooling is easier to set up, the water-cooling should be preferred to achieve higher net output power. It is shown that microchannel cooling has similar hydraulic performance to conventional cooling and inserts increase the net output power of TEG. As the review reveals that active water-cooling should be the method of choice to achieve high net output power, it also shows that a careful optimization is necessary to exploit the potential.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water-Cooled Thermoelectric Generators for Improved Net Output Power: A Review

2021

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“…As expected, in the case of R contC = 0, the load resistance for the maximum power matches the parasitic electrical resistance R = 9.7 Ω of the TEG. For R contC > 0, the load resistance for the maximum power is no longer R [24], but it matches the slope of V out versus I (see Figure 6b). Therefore, the electrical load resistance for the maximum power output must match the effective resistance seen at the output terminal of the TEG, which is affected by the thermal part through the Peltier generator and the contact resistance R contC .…”

Section: Effect Of Contact Thermal Resistances: a Simple Model And Itmentioning

confidence: 62%

Management of the Output Electrical Power in Thermoelectric Generators

2019

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Thermoelectric Generators (TEGs) are devices for direct conversion of heat into electrical power and bear a great potential for applications in energy scavenging and green energy harvesting. Given a heat source, the conversion efficiency depends on the available temperature difference, and must be maximized for optimal operation of the TEG. In this frame, the choice of materials with high thermoelectric properties should be accompanied by the identification of criteria for an optimal exploitation of the electrical power output. In this work, we briefly review the main properties of TEGs, focusing on the electrical power output and the thermal-to-electrical conversion efficiency. Besides, we discuss principles of operation of TEGs enabling the optimization of the electrical power output, based on the suitable choice of the electrical load. In particular, we comparatively present and discuss the conditions for matching the electrical load—yielding to maximum power transfer—and those for maximizing the conversion efficiency. We compare the two conditions applying them to the exploitation of a heat reservoir for energy storage and to the recovery of heat from a heat exchanger. We conclude that the difference between the two conditions is not significant enough to justify the complexity required by the implementation of the maximum efficiency. In addition, we consider the effect of the thermal contact resistance on the electrical power output. Using a simple thermal-electrical model, we demonstrate that the equivalent electrical resistance measured between the terminals of the TEG depends on the thermal exchange. Hence, for maximum power transfer, the electrical load of the TEG should not match its parasitic resistance, but the equivalent electrical resistance in each specific operating conditions, which determine the thermal fluxes. The model can be applied for the development of efficient alternative algorithms for maximum power point tracking.

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“…In order to improve the thermal conductivity of these conventional liquids, many researchers have focus on this aspect. Deasy [20] simulated the design of a passive liquid cooling system for TEGs and experimentally verified the simulation results. Nguven [21] experimentally studied the behavior and heat transfer enhancement of Al2O3 nanofluids for cooling of microprocessors or other electronic components.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The preparation, characterization and application of glycol aqueous base graphene oxide nanofluid

Xie

et al. 2018

MATEC Web Conf.

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Enhancement of the heat transfer of the cold side is one of the approaches to improve the performance of thermoelectric generator systems (TEGs). In order to investigate viability and further performance of the TEG for waste heat recovery in industry area, a small low-temperature waste heat thermoelectric generator setup has been constructed with graphene oxide (GO) nanofluids as coolants in the paper. The results showed excellent stability of GO nanofluids through the preparation of two-step method to be applied in the TEGs .The highest open output voltage of TEG system were obtained by 0.15% weight fraction of GO nanofluids as coolant when the temperature difference (△T) was designed at 95K and the hot side temperature was fixed at 373K in the TEGs. Compared with conventional glycol-water base fluid as coolant, the highest open voltage enhancement ratio has reached 65.26% in the TEGs.

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Simulation-driven design of a passive liquid cooling system for a thermoelectric generator

Cited by 36 publications

References 38 publications

Water-Cooled Thermoelectric Generators for Improved Net Output Power: A Review

Water-Cooled Thermoelectric Generators for Improved Net Output Power: A Review

Management of the Output Electrical Power in Thermoelectric Generators

The preparation, characterization and application of glycol aqueous base graphene oxide nanofluid

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