TY - JOUR
T1 - High-Performance Thermoelectric Generators for Field Deployments
AU - Kishore, Ravi Anant
AU - Nozariasbmarz, Amin
AU - Poudel, Bed
AU - Priya, Shashank
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2020/3/4
Y1 - 2020/3/4
N2 - Thermoelectric power generation is a reliable energy harvesting technique for directly converting heat into electricity. Recent studies have reported the thermal-to-electrical 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.
AB - Thermoelectric power generation is a reliable energy harvesting technique for directly converting heat into electricity. Recent studies have reported the thermal-to-electrical 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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U2 - 10.1021/acsami.9b21299
DO - 10.1021/acsami.9b21299
M3 - Article
C2 - 32040298
AN - SCOPUS:85080027735
SN - 1944-8244
VL - 12
SP - 10389
EP - 10401
JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
IS - 9
ER -