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Heat Management in Thermoelectric Power Generators

Thermoelectric power generators are used to convert heat into electricity. Like any other heat engine, the performance of a thermoelectric generator increases as the temperature difference on the sides increases. It is generally assumed that as more heat is forced through the thermoelectric legs, th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Zebarjadi, M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4817038/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27033717
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep20951
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author Zebarjadi, M.
author_facet Zebarjadi, M.
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description Thermoelectric power generators are used to convert heat into electricity. Like any other heat engine, the performance of a thermoelectric generator increases as the temperature difference on the sides increases. It is generally assumed that as more heat is forced through the thermoelectric legs, their performance increases. Therefore, insulations are typically used to minimize the heat losses and to confine the heat transport through the thermoelectric legs. In this paper we show that to some extend it is beneficial to purposely open heat loss channels in order to establish a larger temperature gradient and therefore to increase the overall efficiency and achieve larger electric power output. We define a modified Biot number (Bi) as an indicator of requirements for sidewall insulation. We show cooling from sidewalls increases the efficiency for Bi values less than one, and decreases the efficiency for Bi values larger than one.
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spelling pubmed-48170382016-04-05 Heat Management in Thermoelectric Power Generators Zebarjadi, M. Sci Rep Article Thermoelectric power generators are used to convert heat into electricity. Like any other heat engine, the performance of a thermoelectric generator increases as the temperature difference on the sides increases. It is generally assumed that as more heat is forced through the thermoelectric legs, their performance increases. Therefore, insulations are typically used to minimize the heat losses and to confine the heat transport through the thermoelectric legs. In this paper we show that to some extend it is beneficial to purposely open heat loss channels in order to establish a larger temperature gradient and therefore to increase the overall efficiency and achieve larger electric power output. We define a modified Biot number (Bi) as an indicator of requirements for sidewall insulation. We show cooling from sidewalls increases the efficiency for Bi values less than one, and decreases the efficiency for Bi values larger than one. Nature Publishing Group 2016-04-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4817038/ /pubmed/27033717 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep20951 Text en Copyright © 2016, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Zebarjadi, M.
Heat Management in Thermoelectric Power Generators
title Heat Management in Thermoelectric Power Generators
title_full Heat Management in Thermoelectric Power Generators
title_fullStr Heat Management in Thermoelectric Power Generators
title_full_unstemmed Heat Management in Thermoelectric Power Generators
title_short Heat Management in Thermoelectric Power Generators
title_sort heat management in thermoelectric power generators
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4817038/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27033717
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep20951
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