Experimental study on the influence of Peltier effect and heat transfer boundary condition on the performance of thermoelectric generator

ABSTRACT

Thermoelectric generator (TEG) has great potential in waste heat recovery which can convert heat into electricity based on the Seebeck effect, while the Peltier effect is negative and inevitable during the energy conversion process. The heat transfer boundary condition and Peltier effect influence the temperature difference which is the main factor determining the power generation performance of TEG. In this paper, to figure out how the heat transfer boundary condition and Peltier effect influenced the power generation performance of TEG, an experiment system was established. In the experiment, the initial hot side temperature of TEG was controlled by a heater, the cold side was cooled by water which belongs to the convective heat transfer boundary. The temperature variation of the hot and cold side of TEG caused by the Peltier effect under different initial hot side temperatures was analyzed firstly. Then, the temperature, internal heat flow, and power generation performance of TEG under different cooling conditions were investigated. The results showed that the Peltier effect reduced the actual temperature difference and resulted in the difference between the experimental and theoretical power generation performance. In addition, the enhancement of cold side heat transfer boundary conditions could raise the actual temperature difference and thus enhance TEG’s power generation performance. Besides, when the Peltier effect and heat transfer boundary conditions were both considered, the enhancement of the cold side heat transfer boundary condition can reduce temperature loss and thus the relative power generation performance loss caused by the Peltier effect. When the load resistance is 0.1 $\mathrm{\Omega }$ and the water flow rate increases from 0.1 $\mathrm{L}/\mathrm{m}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{n}$ to 7 $\mathrm{L}/\mathrm{m}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{n}$, the relative power loss decreases from 29.01% to 20.20%, and the relative efficiency loss decreases from 20.49% to 13.60%. The findings of this work may provide a reference for the study of the heat transfer process of TEG.

KEYWORDS:

• Thermoelectric generator
• Peltier effect
• heat transfer boundary condition
• internal heat
• power generation performance

Nomenclature

Table

Acknowledgments

This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51776090).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author ([email protected];Jiangsu University) upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [51776090].

Notes on contributors

Qingtian Meng

Qingtian Meng is currently a master student in associate Prof. Jun Wang’s group at Jiangsu University. He received his BS (2019) degree in Energy and Power Engineering at North university of China. His research interests include the heat transfer process of thermoelectric generators and simulation of thermoelectric generators’ output performance.

Contribution to this work: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Visualization, Writing-Original draft preparation.

Jun Wang

Jun Wang received his Ph.D. in 2009, now he is an associate professor of the School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering at Jiangsu University. His research interests are the energy conversion, storage and management, the emission and control of internal combustion engine.

Contribution to this work: Writing-Review and Editing, Supervision, Investigation, Project administration.

Zhiqiang Huang

Zhiqiang Huang is a master degree candidate in associate Prof. Jun Wang’s group at Jiangsu University. He received his BS (2020) degree in Energy and Power Engineering at Jiangsu University of Science and Technology. His research interests include the experiment and simulation of heat transfer process of thermoelectric generator.

Contribution to this work: Validation.

Xingjun Li

Xingjun Li is a master degree candidate in associate Prof. Jun Wang’s group at Jiangsu University. He received his BS (2018) degree in the Power Machinery and Engineering at Jiangsu University. His research interests include the performance optimization of thermoelectric generator and maximum power point tracking technology.

Contribution to this work: Resources, Investigation.