The recovery of energy from exhaust gases using thermoelectric generators is of growing interest. The electrical loading of the thermoelectric system impacts the amount of energy that can be recovered. This paper presents a model for the theoretical limit of electrical power generation that...

A thermoelectric (TE) cooler architecture is presented that employs thin film thermoelectric elements on a plastic substrate in a corrugated structure sandwiched between planar thermal interface plates. This design represents a hybrid of a conventional bulk TE device and an in-plane thin film TE...

Recent interest in the use of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) to recover waste heat in large-scale applications calls for precise simulation to appropriately design complicated and dynamic systems. The aim of this work is to develop a computer tool to accurately simulate the thermal and...

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells can convert infrared radiation into electricity. They open up possibilities for silent and stand-alone power production in fuel-fired heating equipment. Similarly, thermoelectric (TE) devices convert thermal energy directly into electricity with no moving parts....

Based on Fourier’s law and the Seebeck effect, this paper presents a mathematical model of a Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) device using the exhaust gas of vehicles as heat source. The model simulates the impact of relevant factors, including vehicles exhaust mass flow rate, temperature and...

Interest in micro-combined heat and power (micro-CHP) for residential homes is growing. Stirling engines, internal combustion engines and organic Rankine cycles (ORC) could be applied for micro-CHP. However, the electrical efficiency of these micro-CHP systems is relatively low. The present...

The World Health Organisation estimates that over 20% of the global population (∼1.4 billion people) lack access to electricity. Furthermore, 40% of the global population (∼2.7 billion people) rely on the traditional use of biomass for cooking (WHO 2011, OEDC/IEA, 2010). This study details...

A mismatch between the fuel combustion temperature ∼2250K (adiabatic) and the high pressure steam temperature up to 900K, results in a large amount of thermodynamic losses in steam turbine (ST) cycles. A solid-state thermoelectric (TE) placed on top of a ST cycle will produce additional...

A thermoelectric stack comprising an array of Bi–Te based thermoelectric converter (TEC) modules is considered for geothermal heat conversion. Each TEC module consists of 127 (Bi0.2Sb0.8)2Te3/Bi2(Te0.96Se0.04)3p/n-type thermoelement pairs, fastened by 30×30mm2 Al2O3 plates. The thermoelement...

The Rankine cycle remains the dominant method of thermal plant electricity generation in the world today. The cycle was described over 150years ago and significant performance advances continue to be realised. On-going metallurgy research has enabled the operating pressure and temperature of the...