A modeling comparison between a two-stage and three-stage cascaded thermoelectric generator

Kanimba, Eurydice; Pearson, M.; Sharp, Jeff; Stokes, David L.; Priya, Shashank; Tian, Zhiting

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.08.091

Cited by 48 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…On the other hand, increasing the working temperature is another way to augment the SPTEG performance, yet special attention should be played because the aging problem is another important issue for an SPTEG. Multistage TEG is another possible method to increase TE efficiency of the entire SPTEG [ 38 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigation on High Capacity Stove-Powered Thermoelectric Generator Incorporated with a Novel Heat Collector

Zheng

et al. 2022

Materials

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It is vital to supply necessary electric power during natural disasters and in deprived regions. A novel heat collector is proposed to improve the capacity of the stove-powered thermoelectric generator (SPTEG). Enclosed combustion walls are constructed with four W-shape copper plates, and act as a whole to be an exceptional heat collector, which was not previously reported in TEG studies. Forty TE modules are installed and two DC–DC converters are employed to stabilize the electric power. Owing to the novel heat collector, the generated electric power reaches 0.024 W/K per unit temperature difference for an individual TE module, which is 200% higher than the previous record (0.008 W/K) when forty TE modules are incorporated. The proposed SPTEG is able to generate a net electric power of 119 W, which is considerably larger than the previous record (75.2 W). The corresponding TE efficiency reaches 3.12%, which is measured at a temperature difference of 140 °C. The startup performance, power load feature, and cooling water flow rate of the SPTEG are studied in detail. Furthermore, one-dimensional theoretical analyses are conducted to explore the SPTEG performance. The theoretical electric power agrees well with the experimental data when DC–DC converters are not involved. Applying DC–DC converters to stabilize the electric power will alter the impendence of the SPTEG, resulting in much lower electric power output than that without DC–DC converters.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigation on High Capacity Stove-Powered Thermoelectric Generator Incorporated with a Novel Heat Collector

Zheng

et al. 2022

Materials

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“…Unlike segmented TEGs that require the TE materials to be compatible, multi-stage TEGs (MTEGs) are independent of this requirement. 22 This is because the electric currents generated in each stage are independent of each other and they are added even if they are different to give the total current of the TEG. 23 Therefore, the MTEG can generate higher power outputs and efficiencies than the regular single-stage TEG because its total power and efficiency are the sums of the powers and efficiencies of the individual TEGs.…”

Section: Multi-stage Tegmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geometry and stage number optimization of a concentrating solar multistage segmented thermoelectric generator by exploiting different optimization schemes

Maduabuchi

Alobaid

2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary To further enhance the performance of the multi‐stage thermoelectric generator (TEG), this work conducts a comprehensive geometry and stage number optimization of a concentrating solar two‐stage TEG made of segmented pins in the second‐stage. The geometry optimization of the proposed device is comprehensive enough to include the individual and combined effects of the segmented pin's heights and cross‐sectional areas which were neglected in previous studies so as to select the best possible optimization parameter. Furthermore, the accuracy of the numerical results is ensured by accounting for temperature dependency in all thermoelectric materials while factoring radiative and convective losses associated with solar concentrating systems. Furthermore, a detailed stage number optimization of the proposed device is carried out by varying the number of stages from 1 to 4 to determine which stage number optimizes the device performance. Major results show that for three possible ways of optimizing the segment heights in the device, simultaneously increasing the n‐ and p‐high temperature material heights is the most effective, yielding a maximum efficiency of 9.28%. Furthermore, for 12 possible ways of optimizing the segment cross‐sectional areas, increasing the n‐ and p‐high temperature material areas is the most effective method, producing an efficiency of 13.82% at 3 mm2. Finally, increasing the number of stages is detrimental to the power output of the system while increasing its efficiency when only high temperature materials are used in the lower stages.

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“…In order for them to match up with the conventional fossil-fuel sources, much explorative studies on improving the device efficiency are needed. Over the years, various performance improvement methodologies have been proposed [10,11] and [12,13]. While these techniques were beneficial in slightly improving device performance, it was further shown that they were relatively expensive and increased system complexity [14,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar Energy Conversion Using a Thermoelectric Generator with Conical Frustum Shaped Pins

Ramesh¹,

Kumar²,

Lamba³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Waste heat is inevitable in any human endeavour. Thus, the need to develop thermal energy conversion systems. Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are solidstate devices that convert waste heat to useful electricity. They have found various applications in converting solar energy to electricity, harvesting exhaust waste heat in automobiles and power plants and providing power for spacecrafts by converting the heat released during radioactive decay to electricity. Despite these perks, they are characterised by very low efficiencies. Thus, several efficiency enhancement strategies such as material modification and leg geometry alteration have been introduced. Pertaining the latter, the trapezoidal shaped geometry has been studied extensively. Although it offers a higher efficiency compared to the conventional rectangular leg geometry, it still exhibits higher thermal stresses and consequently, a reduced lifespan. A conical frustum shaped TE pin has not been conceived yet. The investigation of this leg geometry is important since it might provide a higher efficiency and operating lifetime compared to the current trapezoidal leg. Thus, a thoroughly validated numerical model is used in evaluating the performance of three TEGs comprising rectangular, trapezoidal and conical frustum shaped TE legs. Results indicate that the proposed conical frustum leg TEG enhances the power density and exergy efficiency of the trapezoidal device by 20% and 23%, respectively. Also, the thermal stress and thermodynamic irreversibilities of the trapezoidal leg TEG are reduced by 2% and 0.5%, respectively.

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A modeling comparison between a two-stage and three-stage cascaded thermoelectric generator

Cited by 48 publications

References 15 publications

Experimental Investigation on High Capacity Stove-Powered Thermoelectric Generator Incorporated with a Novel Heat Collector

Experimental Investigation on High Capacity Stove-Powered Thermoelectric Generator Incorporated with a Novel Heat Collector

Geometry and stage number optimization of a concentrating solar multistage segmented thermoelectric generator by exploiting different optimization schemes

Solar Energy Conversion Using a Thermoelectric Generator with Conical Frustum Shaped Pins

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