TY - JOUR
T1 - A quick and efficient measurement technique for performance evaluation of thermoelectric materials
AU - Rao, Ashwin
AU - Banjade, Pawan
AU - Bosak, Gregg
AU - Joshi, Binay
AU - Keane, Jennifer
AU - Nally, Luke
AU - Peng, Adam
AU - Perera, Susanthri
AU - Waring, Alfred
AU - Joshi, Giri
AU - Poudel, Bed
PY - 2016/9/9
Y1 - 2016/9/9
N2 - Evaluating the performance of thermoelectric (TE) materials is critical for developing an efficient long lasting thermoelectric generator. Various parameters like resistance, TE power, TE efficiency as a function of temperature and time play an important role in developing and optimizing TE materials and legs. If one needs to evaluate the TE legs for performance or contact metallization optimization, study of a brazed or packaged device everytime could prove to be an expensive, time consuming process especially as a quick intermediate qualification. In this work, a simple approach that uses eutectic Gallium Indium (Ga-In) paste as a metallizing substitute with good electrical/thermal contact is employed which also avoids the need for brazing/welding (or any permanent joining) and provides a reliable platform for a quick leg qualification. Using open circuit voltage (Voc) and device voltage (Vd), one can evaluate important TE quantities like peak power, material resistance changes, peak current and power versus current characteristics to understand the leg performance. The proposed approach is successfully demonstrated with three different TE material systems namely Bismuth Telluride, Skutterudite and Half Heusler systems.
AB - Evaluating the performance of thermoelectric (TE) materials is critical for developing an efficient long lasting thermoelectric generator. Various parameters like resistance, TE power, TE efficiency as a function of temperature and time play an important role in developing and optimizing TE materials and legs. If one needs to evaluate the TE legs for performance or contact metallization optimization, study of a brazed or packaged device everytime could prove to be an expensive, time consuming process especially as a quick intermediate qualification. In this work, a simple approach that uses eutectic Gallium Indium (Ga-In) paste as a metallizing substitute with good electrical/thermal contact is employed which also avoids the need for brazing/welding (or any permanent joining) and provides a reliable platform for a quick leg qualification. Using open circuit voltage (Voc) and device voltage (Vd), one can evaluate important TE quantities like peak power, material resistance changes, peak current and power versus current characteristics to understand the leg performance. The proposed approach is successfully demonstrated with three different TE material systems namely Bismuth Telluride, Skutterudite and Half Heusler systems.
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U2 - 10.1088/0957-0233/27/10/105008
DO - 10.1088/0957-0233/27/10/105008
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84989941140
SN - 0957-0233
VL - 27
JO - Measurement Science and Technology
JF - Measurement Science and Technology
IS - 10
M1 - 105008
ER -