An Experimental Investigation into Improving the Performance of Thermoelectric Generators

Abstract

Low-temperature heat sources have become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly for energy generation. The majority of thermal devices in the market (including devices using solar energy, geothermal energy, waste energy, and so on) transform heat into electricity indirectly, requiring mechanical work before producing power. Through the Seebeck effect, the technology that employs a thermoelectric generator (TEG) may directly transform heat energy into electricity. The TEG technology provides several advantages, including compactness, quietness, and the absence of moving components. TEGs have a low thermal and electrical efficiency, which is one of their main drawbacks. Therefore, the performance of a thermoelectric generator is improved by employing liquid evaporation heat transfer in this manuscript. The performance of the thermoelectric was examined experimentally and compared to the liquid evaporation mode under varied heat flux values and different modes of heat transfer in terms of free and forced convection with and without fins. The experimental results revealed that when compared to free convection without fins, adopting forced liquid evaporation convection would improve TEG voltage variation by 435.9%.

Effect of liquid saturated porous medium on heat transfer from thermoelectric generator

“…Several experimental and theoretical studies [13][14][15][16] examined heat transfer from the TEG surface in order to improve its performance and its power generation. TEG with heat pipe heat sink has been investigated with variable fin space, fin length, fin height, fin materials for both natural and forced convection to enhance the TEG performance [17,18].…”

“…To have a high-power generation from TEG the heat transfer from the cold surface should be increased. This could be done by fins or forced convection as performed in [13,26] and many other researches. Such methods require fans and extra volume for fins which may not be available in many applications specially the medical or built-in application.…”

Experimental Analysis of Atmospheric Water Harvester Using Ammonia Vapour Absorption System

“…If AWH machine is to be competitive, then the produced water price must be reduced by reducing energy consumed per litre, energy cost, maximising water harvested or if water is to be transported long distances, where its cost may rise to 0.7 $/L [7,8]. In order to maximise the harvested water amount, thus reducing SEC, research on enhancing heat transfer including fin natural/forced convection [9,10] or different technique must be used.…”

Performance Analysis of a Thermoelectric Cooler Placed between Two Thermoelectric Generators for Different Heat Transfer Conditions

“…In (Alahmer et al, 2022) have been experimentally tested and compared with liquid evaporation mode with different heat fluxes using free and forced convection, so the results revealed that when compared to free convection without fins, adopting forced steam convection would improve the TEG voltage fluctuations 435.9%.…”