Numerical investigation on the performance of an automotive thermoelectric generator integrated with a three-way catalytic converter

Abstract

The automotive exhaust-based thermoelectric generator integrated with a three-way catalytic converter (TWC) can convert the thermal energy of exhaust gas into an electric energy, and solve the compatibility issues with an exhaust system. More power can be generated when the temperature of heat exchanger is higher. However, the performances of TWC are also affected by the temperature of the heat exchanger. To get more power generation and reduce the impact on the TWC, three heat exchangers with different section shapes were simulated and corresponding surface temperature and back-pressure were compared. Then three kinds of fins were employed in heat exchangers to figure out the effects. Finally, the results showed that the section shape had no obvious effect on the distribution of temperature and pressure in heat exchangers, but the arrangement of the fins inside the heat exchanger had a heavy impact on the performance of the heat exchanger. According to the simulation results, the heat exchanger in which the direction of fins was skewed to the streamwise could get higher temperature and output power at 192.96 W.

Research on the Application of Porous Ceramic Waste Gas Purification Device in Ceramic Kiln

“…[8,9,10] This paper, Exhaust gas purification plant , based on porous ceramics materials, mainly will be when the high temperature of kiln gas by purification plant, the first of exhaust gas desulfurization dust removal process, after processing the waste gas into the porous ceramic catalysts, catalysts in the cleanser will enhance CO, HC and NOx activity of three kinds of gases, prompting the oxidation -reduction reaction, in which CO oxidation at high temperatures become colorless,non-toxic carbon dioxide gas; HC compounds oxidize to water (H2O) and carbon dioxide at high temperatures. [11,12,13] NOx is reduced to nitrogen and oxygen, three harmful gases become harmless gases, so that the furnace exhaust gas can be purified.…”

Optimization of Thermoelectric Modules’ Number and Distribution Pattern in an Automotive Exhaust Thermoelectric Generator

“…Kumar et al [22] discretized the TEG along the exhaust flow direction using a finite volume method; and each discrete volume was modeled as a thermal resistor network. Yuan et al [23] used a three-dimensional numerical simulation model to investigate the performance of ATEG. These previous studies have provided numerous promising electrothermal models; however, most of the models are unable to accurately represent the TEMs temperature distribution along the fluid flow direction because they were established by assuming an isothermal transfer among adjacent TEMs [12], [15], [16], [20], [22], [23].…”

“…Yuan et al [23] used a three-dimensional numerical simulation model to investigate the performance of ATEG. These previous studies have provided numerous promising electrothermal models; however, most of the models are unable to accurately represent the TEMs temperature distribution along the fluid flow direction because they were established by assuming an isothermal transfer among adjacent TEMs [12], [15], [16], [20], [22], [23]. Therefore, a new onedimensional multi-domain model, which not only considers the temperature gradient on the TEMs surface along the fluid flow direction but also shortens calculation time, is proposed in this paper.…”