Performance Analysis of a Thermoelectric Combined Power Cycle

Effects of physical dimensions, temperature ranges and interfacial thermal contacts on the multi‐stage thermoelectric generators for a hypersonic vehicle

“…At present, the TEG technique has already been employed in a variety of space missions, like the Transit 4A satellite, 9 Curiosity Mars rover, 9 Galileo spacecraft, 10 New Horizons space probes, 11 and Cassini spacecraft 11 and for hypersonic engineering, it is also considered as one the most promising TM techniques and attracts lots of research attentions. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] The TPS with integrated TEGs is described as "holds the potential to harvest free energy and save weight by reducing onboard power systems" in the NASA's Technology Area Roadmap 14-Thermal Management Systems. 23 A TEG is usually composed of a couple of P-and N-type TE material legs, which can convert the heat into electric energy under certain temperature difference based on the so-called Seebeck effect.…”

“…He et al 17 also produced a TEG integrating with phase change material for intermittent aerodynamic heat source and the experimental studies show the advantages of phase change material. Xie et al 18 used TEGs to convert the combustion heat at nozzle and the aerodynamic heat at the front of vehicle. Jia et al 19 developed an aerodynamic heat recovery system based on TEGs and studied the influences of Mach number, flight height and TE legs' length.…”