IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v174y2019icp932-937.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Replacing commercial thermoelectric generators with a novel electrochemical device in low-grade heat applications

Author

Listed:
  • Fathabadi, Hassan

Abstract

A thermoelectric generator (TEG) is a solid-state electronic device. The main defect of a commercial TEG, which makes it useless for most of practical applications such as solar energy harvesting, is its very low power production when the difference of temperature between its two surfaces ranges below 50 °C. The traditional solution is to add some relatively expensive devices such as concentrator, evaporator, condenser and cooling system to TEGs that there is often no technical and economical justification for it. This study provides a new solution by presenting a novel electrochemical device operating based on the thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC). The proposed device is first analyzed in detail to provide theoretical concepts. A prototype of the device has been constructed, and experimental verifications are given that substantiate the capability of the device in precisely mapping temperature difference between its two cells to its output electric power. A comparison between the proposed electrochemical device and a commercial TEG module TEG1-1263-4.3 is also performed that demonstrates the power production of the electrochemical device is extremely more than that of a commercial TEG module, in particular, in the temperature difference range of 0–50 °C. For instance, 54.5 W of electric power is produced by the device at the temperature difference of 50 °C, while it is only 0.3 W for a TEG module TEG1-1263-4.3. This point explicitly verifies the superiority of the proposed electrochemical device in low-grade heat harvesting. The novelty and originality of this study can be summarized as follows. First, presenting and constructing a novel electrochemical device operating based on the TREC with the size and weight of, respectively, 50×30×32cm3 and 3.1 kg that makes it portable and suitable for industrial applications. Second, the power production of the constructed electrochemical device is extremely greater than that of TEG modules that considering size, weight and portability is the only alternative technology in low-grade heat harvesting applications. Third, this work presents an electrochemical device which is an industrial TREC based system applicable to industrial applications that is clearly different from small-scale TREC cells reported in the literature, which are only applicable to small-scale experimental applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Fathabadi, Hassan, 2019. "Replacing commercial thermoelectric generators with a novel electrochemical device in low-grade heat applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 932-937.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:174:y:2019:i:c:p:932-937
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.02.122
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544219303214
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2019.02.122?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. He, Wei & Zhang, Gan & Zhang, Xingxing & Ji, Jie & Li, Guiqiang & Zhao, Xudong, 2015. "Recent development and application of thermoelectric generator and cooler," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1-25.
    2. Fathabadi, Hassan, 2019. "Solar energy harvesting in buildings using a proposed novel electrochemical device as an alternative to PV modules," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 118-125.
    3. Suman, Siddharth & Khan, Mohd. Kaleem & Pathak, Manabendra, 2015. "Performance enhancement of solar collectors—A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 192-210.
    4. He, Wei & Su, Yuehong & Riffat, S.B. & Hou, JinXin & Ji, Jie, 2011. "Parametrical analysis of the design and performance of a solar heat pipe thermoelectric generator unit," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 5083-5089.
    5. Zhang, Ming & Miao, Lei & Kang, Yi Pu & Tanemura, Sakae & Fisher, Craig A.J. & Xu, Gang & Li, Chun Xin & Fan, Guang Zhu, 2013. "Efficient, low-cost solar thermoelectric cogenerators comprising evacuated tubular solar collectors and thermoelectric modules," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 51-59.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dawahdeh, Ahmad I. & Al-Nimr, Moh'd A., 2022. "Power generation by integrating a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) with a biofuel stove," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    2. Fathabadi, Hassan, 2020. "Novel solar-powered photovoltaic/thermoelectric hybrid power source," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 426-434.
    3. Huang, Yuewu & Li, Danyi & Chen, Zhuo, 2022. "Potential analysis of a system hybridizing dye-sensitized solar cell with thermally regenerative electrochemical devices," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    4. Al-Nimr, Moh'd A. & Dawahdeh, Ahmad I. & Ali, Hussain A., 2022. "Power generation by integrating a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) with a solar pond and underground heat exchanger," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 663-675.
    5. Fathabadi, Hassan, 2019. "Two novel methods for converting the waste heat of PV modules caused by temperature rise into electric power," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 543-551.
    6. Tang, Xin & Li, Guiqiang & Zhao, Xudong, 2021. "Performance analysis of a novel hybrid electrical generation system using photovoltaic/thermal and thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    7. Tang, Xin & Li, Guiqiang & Zhao, Xudong, 2021. "Effect of air gap on a novel hybrid photovoltaic/thermal and thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fathabadi, Hassan, 2019. "Two novel methods for converting the waste heat of PV modules caused by temperature rise into electric power," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 543-551.
    2. Sajid, Muhammad & Hassan, Ibrahim & Rahman, Aziz, 2017. "An overview of cooling of thermoelectric devices," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 15-22.
    3. Fathabadi, Hassan, 2020. "Novel solar-powered photovoltaic/thermoelectric hybrid power source," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 426-434.
    4. He, Wei & Zhang, Gan & Zhang, Xingxing & Ji, Jie & Li, Guiqiang & Zhao, Xudong, 2015. "Recent development and application of thermoelectric generator and cooler," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1-25.
    5. Xie, Yu & Wu, Shi-jun & Yang, Can-jun, 2016. "Generation of electricity from deep-sea hydrothermal vents with a thermoelectric converter," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 620-627.
    6. Elsheikh, A.H. & Sharshir, S.W. & Mostafa, Mohamed E. & Essa, F.A. & Ahmed Ali, Mohamed Kamal, 2018. "Applications of nanofluids in solar energy: A review of recent advances," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 3483-3502.
    7. Högblom, Olle & Andersson, Ronnie, 2016. "A simulation framework for prediction of thermoelectric generator system performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 472-482.
    8. Chopra, K. & Tyagi, V.V. & Pandey, A.K. & Sari, Ahmet, 2018. "Global advancement on experimental and thermal analysis of evacuated tube collector with and without heat pipe systems and possible applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 351-389.
    9. Dawahdeh, Ahmad I. & Al-Nimr, Moh'd.A., 2023. "A novel energy harvesting and battery thermal management in hybrid vehicles using a thermally regenerative electrochemical device," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    10. Feng, Mengqi & Lv, Song & Deng, Jingcai & Guo, Ying & Wu, Yangyang & Shi, Guoqing & Zhang, Mingming, 2023. "An overview of environmental energy harvesting by thermoelectric generators," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    11. Björn Pfeiffelmann & Ali Cemal Benim & Franz Joos, 2021. "Water-Cooled Thermoelectric Generators for Improved Net Output Power: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-29, December.
    12. Olle Högblom & Ronnie Andersson, 2020. "Multiphysics CFD Simulation for Design and Analysis of Thermoelectric Power Generation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-15, August.
    13. Lorenzi, Bruno & Mariani, Paolo & Reale, Andrea & Di Carlo, Aldo & Chen, Gang & Narducci, Dario, 2021. "Practical development of efficient thermoelectric – Photovoltaic hybrid systems based on wide-gap solar cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    14. Ibrahim, Amin & Rahnamayan, Shahryar & Vargas Martin, Miguel & Yilbas, Bekir, 2014. "Multi-objective thermal analysis of a thermoelectric device: Influence of geometric features on device characteristics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 305-317.
    15. Cui, Tengfei & Xuan, Yimin & Yin, Ershuai & Li, Qiang & Li, Dianhong, 2017. "Experimental investigation on potential of a concentrated photovoltaic-thermoelectric system with phase change materials," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 94-102.
    16. Selcuk Bulat & Erdal Büyükbicakci & Mustafa Erkovan, 2024. "Efficiency Enhancement in Photovoltaic–Thermoelectric Hybrid Systems through Cooling Strategies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-12, January.
    17. Selimefendigil, Fatih & Öztop, Hakan F., 2020. "Identification of pulsating flow effects with CNT nanoparticles on the performance enhancements of thermoelectric generator (TEG) module in renewable energy applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1076-1086.
    18. Rasel, Mohammad Sala Uddin & Park, Jae-Yeong, 2017. "A sandpaper assisted micro-structured polydimethylsiloxane fabrication for human skin based triboelectric energy harvesting application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 150-158.
    19. Nie, Wenjie & Lü, Ke & Chen, Aixi & He, Jizhou & Lan, Yueheng, 2018. "Performance optimization of single and two-stage micro/nano-scaled heat pumps with internal and external irreversibilities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 695-703.
    20. Soprani, S. & Haertel, J.H.K. & Lazarov, B.S. & Sigmund, O. & Engelbrecht, K., 2016. "A design approach for integrating thermoelectric devices using topology optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 49-64.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:174:y:2019:i:c:p:932-937. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.