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Seeking high energy conversion efficiency in a fully temperature-dependent thermoelectric medium

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  • Song, Kun
  • Yin, Deshun
  • Song, Haopeng
  • Schiavone, Peter
  • Wu, Xun
  • Yuan, Lili

Abstract

The material parameters associated with a thermoelectric medium show strong temperature dependence when the medium is subjected to a wide range of temperatures. This motivates the need to investigate the thermal-electric conversion efficiency of a temperature-dependent medium. In this paper, we develop the temperature field and electric potential associated with a one-dimensional thermoelectric medium with particular attention paid to the influence of various material parameters on the thermal-electric conversion efficiency. We use both theoretical and numerical methods and illustrate our results using several detailed numerical examples. Our numerical results show that the Thomson heat induced by a variable Seebeck coefficient is responsible for more than 20% of total energy leading to a 13% effect on the thermal-electric conversion efficiency. This remarkable result indicates that the thermal-electric conversion efficiency can be effectively optimized by controlling the heat exchange between the thermoelectric medium and its surroundings. In addition, our results indicate that when dealing with a large temperature range, the maximum thermal-electric conversion efficiency should not be taken as a function solely of an average thermoelectric figure of merit since it can vary considerably with different material parameters.

Suggested Citation

  • Song, Kun & Yin, Deshun & Song, Haopeng & Schiavone, Peter & Wu, Xun & Yuan, Lili, 2022. "Seeking high energy conversion efficiency in a fully temperature-dependent thermoelectric medium," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:239:y:2022:i:pe:s036054422102689x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.122440
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Shaolin & Yang, Hao & Li, Yanan & Guo, Zhe & Zhang, Qiang & Cai, Jianfeng & Wu, Jiehua & Tan, Xiaojian & Liu, Guoqiang & Song, Kun & Jiang, Jun, 2023. "Optimizing GeTe-based thermoelectric generator for low-grade heat recovery," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 349(C).

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