The thermoelectric analysis of different heat flux conduction materials for power generation board

Li, S., Lam, K. H. and Cheng, K. W. E. (2017) The thermoelectric analysis of different heat flux conduction materials for power generation board. Energies, 10(11), 1781. (doi: 10.3390/en10111781)

Abstract

The development of the thermoelectric (TE) power generation is rapid, and the applications have extensively been studied. The principle is based on the Seebeck effect, in which the temperature difference between hot and cold sides of the TE material converts to electrical energy. In this paper, a design is proposed to convert the thermal energy between indoor and outdoor of a board to electrical energy by the thermoelectric generator (TEG). Furthermore, the electrical energy generated is charged to supercapacitors as a battery or a power supply to the loads (e.g., lights) of the house. Besides the experimental work, a thermal model and an electrical model of the TEG have been proposed. To study the power generation performance in terms of materials, the simulation of the conversion efficiency of the TE board using materials with different thermal conductance have also been conducted. It was found that, using graphene as the thermally conductive material, the conversion efficiency was enhanced by 1.6% and 1.7%, when the temperature difference was 15 °C and 40 °C, respectively.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of Research Committee of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University under the project reference H-ZDB9.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Lam, Dr Koko
• Authors: Li, S., Lam, K. H., and Cheng, K. W. E.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Energies
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1996-1073
• ISSN (Online): 1996-1073
• Copyright Holders: Copyright: © 2017 by the authors
• First Published: First published in Energies 10(11): 1781
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

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