Design of Cascaded Oxide Thermoelectric Generator

Abstract

This paper describes the design of two-and three-stage cascaded oxide thermoelectric generators (TEGs) for high-temperature heat recovery using reported data to optimize energy conversion efficiency. We used the general intermetallic compounds Bi 2 (Se,Te) 3 and (Bi,Sb) 2 Te 3 for the low-temperature stages and oxides of TiO 1:1 , La-doped SrTiO 3 , Na x Co 2 O 4 , and Al-doped ZnO for the higher-temperature stages. A two-stage TEG with TiO 1:1 as the p-type material and La-doped SrTiO 3 as the n-type material was found to have the highest efficiency at heat-source temperatures below 852 K, while the three-stage TEG was slightly more efficient than the two-stage TEG for heat-source temperatures above 852 K. For the three-stage TEG, the optimal boundary temperature of the second and third stages was calculated to be 698 K; at this temperature, the maximum energy conversion efficiency, 13.5%, was obtained at a heat-source temperature of 1223 K. The results showed that the designed two-and three-stage cascaded oxide TEGs have high potential for heat recovery from high-temperature waste.

Vacancies in ordered and disordered titanium monoxide: Mechanism of B1 structure stabilization

“…It should be noted that at present there is a high interest to titanium monoxide as a material for cascaded oxide thermoelectric generators [21] due to its unique thermoelectric properties [22]. Additionally, titanium monoxide can be used in microelectronics as a diffusion barrier against the inter-diffusion of Al and Si [23,24].…”

Design and Numerical Evaluation of Cascade-Type Thermoelectric Modules

“…The performance can be enhanced by stacking several TE modules (so-called cascade modules) [6][7][8]. The cascade TE generation efficiency can be increased by using materials suitable for the working temperature range.…”

“…In a practical module construction, Zhang et al [7] indicated that cascade TE generators using TE oxides have a high potential for heat recovery from hightemperature waste. Funahashi [8] fabricated cascade modules consisting of oxide and Bi 2 Te 3 modules and indicated experimentally that cascade structures are effective for high efficiency.…”

Development of Heat Exchanger with New Mechanism of Scraping Temperature Boundary Layer

“…For each form of waste heat, suitable recovering methods were proposed. For example, thermoelectric conversion for wall heat loss, [6][7][8][9] pre-heating of materials and steam generation for fluid sensible heat and radiation, etc. One of the attracting technologies is latent heat storage [10][11][12][13][14] that once stores thermal energy as latent heat of melting and then supplies it to the distant place with time-shift and flattened temperature level.…”