A numerical study on the performance of a converging thermoelectric generator system used for waste heat recovery

Luo, Ding; Wang, Ruochen; Yu, Wei; Zhou, Weilin

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115181

Cited by 73 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The results showed that the output power of the converging thermoelectric generator system was 5.9% higher than that of the conventional system when the air temperature is 550 K and the airflow rate is 60 g/s. 32 Huang et al developed a combined RSM−GA optimization method based on numerical models of TEGs. The optimization algorithm improves the rigor of the actual design of the test error and the efficiency of the direct search of the design space.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the Effects of Module Size and Material Property on Thermoelectric Generator Power

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2020

ACS Omega

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It is known that thermoelectric power generators (TEGs) can utilize geothermal resources and recycle waste heat. It is vital to improve the thermoelectric power generation efficiency to economically and efficiently use these thermal resources. In this paper, ANSYS was used to build a three-dimensional model of a very simple TEG with only one pair of p- and n-legs (1-PN-TEG) to find the optimal design. The thickness of the semiconductor elements, the cross-sectional area of p- and n-type semiconductor elements, the heat insulation material, the thickness of copper sheet, and other factors were analyzed to study their effects on the power output of 1-PN-TEG. The results show that the power of TEG increases first and then decreases with the thickness of p- and n-legs (H); the maximum power existed at a specific value of H. The power increases when the cross-sectional areas of p- and n-type semiconductor elements become more extensive, but the power per area decreases. Furthermore, the power increases with the volume of p- and n-type semiconductor elements and tends to be stabilized finally. This observation may be used to estimate how much thermoelectric material is required to generate a specific value of TEG power. The gaps between p- and n-type semiconductor elements were filled with different heat insulation materials. The heat insulation material with lower thermal conductivity had a greater power output. The thickness of the copper sheet, as a conductor between p- and n-type semiconductor elements, was also investigated. The maximum power value was reached when the thickness of the copper sheet was equal to about 1.0 mm. All of the results obtained in this paper might provide a theoretical basis for the configuration and design optimization of a thermoelectric generator, making more efficient use of geothermal resources and the waste heat.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the Effects of Module Size and Material Property on Thermoelectric Generator Power

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2020

ACS Omega

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“…Studies have shown that improving the temperature uniformity of the hot side of a thermoelectric power generation system can effectively solve this problem. This study used the temperature uniformity coefficient γ, and its expression is as follows [25]:…”

Section: Analysis Of Temperature Uniformitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kim et al [21] designed the exhaust pipe into a hexagon and evaluated the performance of the hexagonal thermoelectric generator under eight working conditions. The experimental results showed that the pressure drop was 2.1 KPa when the maximum output power was 98.8 W. Luo et al [25] proposed a converging thermoelectric power generation system, which led to higher output power and lower back-pressure power loss, compared with the traditional structures. Specifically, when the air temperature was 550 K, and the air mass flow was 60 g/s, the output power of the tapered thermoelectric power generation system was about 5.9% higher than that of the traditional system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on Module Layout and Module Coverage of an Automobile Exhaust Thermoelectric Power Generation System

et al. 2022

Self Cite

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Due to the low efficiency of thermoelectric generators (TEGs), many scholars have focused on the structural optimization of TEGs rather than on the optimization of the layout of thermoelectric modules. We aimed to investigate the effect of module layout on the output power of an automotive exhaust thermoelectric power generation system. The module spacing and module coverage ratio were compared under different working conditions based on a numerical simulation. The results show that, under high-temperature conditions, when the module spacing expands from 5 mm to 35 mm, the output power growth rate of modules of different sizes ranges between 8% and 9%. Moreover, under low-temperature conditions, a high coverage ratio of modules will not increase the total output power but, instead, make it decline. In fact, choosing a larger-size module can improve the temperature uniformity, thereby increasing the output power of the automotive thermoelectric power generation system. Hence, the present study has verified that, under different working conditions, different module layouts and module coverage ratios have an impact on the output power of the thermoelectric power generation system, which sheds new light on the improvement of automotive thermoelectric power generation systems.

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“…These two-wheel vehicles daily dissipate the exhaust heat, which accounts for around 40% of the energy produced by the combustion process inside the internal combustion engine (Yang and Stabler, 2009). With that enormous energy source, the applications of energy recovery technologies such as thermoelectric generator (TEG) (Albatati and Attar, 2021;Luo et al, 2020;Kunt, 2018) and Rankine cycle (Colonna et al, 2015;Uusitalo et al, 2014;Sprouse and Depcik, 2013) are feasible to enhance energy extraction efficiency and reduce environmental pollution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on the effects of guide fins structures on the flow and thermal uniformity of the motorcycle exhaust thermoelectric generator

Hong

Nghiem

Nguyen

et al. 2022

MMMS

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of different guide fins structures (i.e. single-layer and double-layer guide fins) on the exhaust flow and thermal uniformity of the motorcycle exhaust thermoelectric generator.Design/methodology/approachOne single-layer guide fins structure and three double-layer guide fins structures are numerically investigated in terms of exhaust flow uniformity with different exhaust properties. Then, the double-layer guide fins structure achieving the highest flow uniformity is fabricated and experimentally investigated on a motorcycle at different engine speeds together with the single-layer guide fins structure to evaluate the thermal uniformity.FindingsThe double-layer guide fins structure obtains a better flow uniformity and thermal uniformity compared to the single-layer structure. Among surveyed structures, the double-layer structure with three closed V-shape guide fins achieves the highest flow uniformity. This structure also improves the thermal uniformity from 3.0 to 90.1% in comparison with the single-layer structure in experiments.Originality/valueIn this paper, the double-layer guide fins structures are derived from the improvement of the single-layer guide fins structure. The fluid flow uniformity index is applied as a measure for assessing the exhaust flow uniformity. The enhancement of thermal uniformity of the double-layer guide fins structure is expected to increase the longevity and performance of the motorcycle exhaust thermoelectric generator.

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A numerical study on the performance of a converging thermoelectric generator system used for waste heat recovery

Cited by 73 publications

References 31 publications

Modeling the Effects of Module Size and Material Property on Thermoelectric Generator Power

Modeling the Effects of Module Size and Material Property on Thermoelectric Generator Power

Research on Module Layout and Module Coverage of an Automobile Exhaust Thermoelectric Power Generation System

Study on the effects of guide fins structures on the flow and thermal uniformity of the motorcycle exhaust thermoelectric generator

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