IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v243y2022ics0360544221032849.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of temperature-dependent thermal properties and the side leg heat dissipation on the performance of the thermoelectric generator

Author

Listed:
  • Lan, Yuncheng
  • Lu, Junhui
  • Li, Junming
  • Wang, Suilin

Abstract

Thermoelectric power generation is an important technology in the field of energy conversion, which contributes to the goal of carbon neutralization. The prediction accuracy of thermoelectric generator's (TEG) performance is critical to optimize the design and carbon emission evolution. In this paper, a novel one-dimensional model is developed with comprehensive consideration of the Joule heat, conduction heat, Thomson heat, temperature-dependent properties and side leg dissipation. The numerical solution of the proposed model is compared with the available experimental data and theoretical results. The comparison between the proposed model and experimental data for output power and efficiency of TEG are 3.0–12.0% and 0.9–17.5% respectively, when the temperature difference is within 68–149 K. This implies that the developed model exhibits an improved accuracy, as the published models commonly possess a deviation greater than 20% for the temperature difference higher than 103 K. It is also found that the temperature-dependent properties and side leg heat dissipation have a pronounced effect on TEG performance, when the temperature difference exceeds 68 K. The most influential factor leading to the uneven distribution of temperature and heat flux is the temperature-dependent properties of thermoelectric material, and followed by Thomson heat.

Suggested Citation

  • Lan, Yuncheng & Lu, Junhui & Li, Junming & Wang, Suilin, 2022. "Effects of temperature-dependent thermal properties and the side leg heat dissipation on the performance of the thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:243:y:2022:i:c:s0360544221032849
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.123035
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544221032849
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2021.123035?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. Liu, Di & Zhao, Fu-Yun & Yang, Hongxing & Tang, Guang-Fa, 2015. "Theoretical and experimental investigations of thermoelectric heating system with multiple ventilation channels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 458-468.
    2. Sun, Dongfang & Shen, Limei & Chen, Huanxin & Jiang, Bin & Jie, Desuan & Liu, Huanyu & Yao, Yu & Tang, Jingchun, 2020. "Modeling and analysis of the influence of Thomson effect on micro-thermoelectric coolers considering interfacial and size effects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    3. Chen, Wei-Hsin & Lin, Yi-Xian & Wang, Xiao-Dong & Lin, Yu-Li, 2019. "A comprehensive analysis of the performance of thermoelectric generators with constant and variable properties," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C), pages 11-24.
    4. Børset, Marit Takla & Wilhelmsen, Øivind & Kjelstrup, Signe & Burheim, Odne Stokke, 2017. "Exploring the potential for waste heat recovery during metal casting with thermoelectric generators: On-site experiments and mathematical modeling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 865-875.
    5. Tian Li & Andrea D. Pickel & Yonggang Yao & Yanan Chen & Yuqiang Zeng & Steven D. Lacey & Yiju Li & Yilin Wang & Jiaqi Dai & Yanbin Wang & Bao Yang & Michael S. Fuhrer & Amy Marconnet & Chris Dames & , 2018. "Thermoelectric properties and performance of flexible reduced graphene oxide films up to 3,000 K," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(2), pages 148-156, February.
    6. Meng, Fankai & Chen, Lingen & Sun, Fengrui, 2011. "A numerical model and comparative investigation of a thermoelectric generator with multi-irreversibilities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 3513-3522.
    7. He, Min & Wang, Enhua & Zhang, Yuanyin & Zhang, Wen & Zhang, Fujun & Zhao, Changlu, 2020. "Performance analysis of a multilayer thermoelectric generator for exhaust heat recovery of a heavy-duty diesel engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    8. Zhang, T., 2016. "New thinking on modeling of thermoelectric devices," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 65-74.
    9. Kanimba, Eurydice & Pearson, Matthew & Sharp, Jeff & Stokes, David & Priya, Shashank & Tian, Zhiting, 2018. "A comprehensive model of a lead telluride thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 813-821.
    10. Sahoo, Rashmi Rekha & Karana, Dhruv Raj, 2020. "Effect of design shape factor on exergonic performance of a new modified extended-tapering segmented thermoelectric generator system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    11. Ju, Chengjian & Dui, Guansuo & Zheng, Helen Hao & Xin, Libiao, 2017. "Revisiting the temperature dependence in material properties and performance of thermoelectric materials," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 249-257.
    12. Gou, Xiaolong & Yang, Suwen & Xiao, Heng & Ou, Qiang, 2013. "A dynamic model for thermoelectric generator applied in waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 201-209.
    13. Sun, Yajing & Chen, Gang & Duan, Bo & Li, Guodong & Zhai, Pengcheng, 2019. "An annular thermoelectric couple analytical model by considering temperature-dependent material properties and Thomson effect," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    14. Shen, Zu-Guo & Wu, Shuang-Ying & Xiao, Lan & Yin, Gang, 2016. "Theoretical modeling of thermoelectric generator with particular emphasis on the effect of side surface heat transfer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 367-379.
    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. Lan, Yuncheng & Lu, Junhui & Mu, Lianbo & Wang, Suilin & Zhai, Huixing, 2023. "Waste heat recovery from exhausted gas of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell to produce hydrogen using thermoelectric generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    2. Lan, Yuncheng & Lu, Junhui & Wang, Suilin, 2023. "Study of the geometry and structure of a thermoelectric leg with variable material properties and side heat dissipation based on thermodynamic, economic, and environmental analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    3. Nan, Bohang & Guo, Tao & Deng, Hao & Zhang, Guangbing & Shi, Ran & Xin, Jiakai & Tang, Chen & Xu, Guiying, 2024. "Output performance improvement for thermoelectric transistor with the consideration of the Thomson effect and geometry optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    4. Wen, Xin & Ji, Jie & Li, Zhaomeng, 2023. "Evaluation of the phase change material in regulating all-day electrical performance in the PV-MCHP-TE system in winter," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PC).
    5. Chen, Lingen & Lorenzini, Giulio, 2023. "Heating load, COP and exergetic efficiency optimizations for TEG-TEH combined thermoelectric device with Thomson effect and external heat transfer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(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. He, Zhi-Zhu, 2020. "A coupled electrical-thermal impedance matching model for design optimization of thermoelectric generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    2. Lan, Yuncheng & Lu, Junhui & Wang, Suilin, 2023. "Study of the geometry and structure of a thermoelectric leg with variable material properties and side heat dissipation based on thermodynamic, economic, and environmental analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    3. Sahoo, Rashmi Rekha & Karana, Dhruv Raj, 2020. "Effect of design shape factor on exergonic performance of a new modified extended-tapering segmented thermoelectric generator system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    4. 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).
    5. Lyudmyla Vikhor & Maxim Kotsur, 2023. "Evaluation of Efficiency for Miniscale Thermoelectric Converter under the Influence of Electrical and Thermal Resistance of Contacts," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-22, May.
    6. Zhu, Yuxiao & Newbrook, Daniel W. & Dai, Peng & de Groot, C.H. Kees & Huang, Ruomeng, 2022. "Artificial neural network enabled accurate geometrical design and optimisation of thermoelectric generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    7. Weng, Zebin & Liu, Furong & Zhu, Wenchao & Li, Yang & Xie, Changjun & Deng, Jian & Huang, Liang, 2022. "Performance improvement of variable-angle annular thermoelectric generators considering different boundary conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    8. Favarel, Camille & Bédécarrats, Jean-Pierre & Kousksou, Tarik & Champier, Daniel, 2014. "Numerical optimization of the occupancy rate of thermoelectric generators to produce the highest electrical power," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 104-116.
    9. Zou, Wen-Jiang & Shen, Kun-Yang & Jung, Seunghun & Kim, Young-Bae, 2021. "Application of thermoelectric devices in performance optimization of a domestic PEMFC-based CHP system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    10. He, Wei & Wang, Shixue & Zhang, Xing & Li, Yanzhe & Lu, Chi, 2015. "Optimization design method of thermoelectric generator based on exhaust gas parameters for recovery of engine waste heat," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-9.
    11. Sun, Yajing & Chen, Gang & Duan, Bo & Li, Guodong & Zhai, Pengcheng, 2019. "An annular thermoelectric couple analytical model by considering temperature-dependent material properties and Thomson effect," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    12. Ponnusamy, P. & de Boor, J. & Müller, E., 2020. "Using the constant properties model for accurate performance estimation of thermoelectric generator elements," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    13. Daniel Sanin-Villa & Oscar D. Monsalve-Cifuentes, 2023. "A Methodological Approach of Predicting the Performance of Thermoelectric Generators with Temperature-Dependent Properties and Convection Heat Losses," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-24, October.
    14. Cai, Yeyun & Ding, Ning & Rezania, A. & Deng, Fang & Rosendahl, L. & Chen, Jie, 2023. "A multi-objective optimization in system level for thermoelectric generation system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    15. Harb, Abd El-Moneim A. & Elsayed, Khairy & Sedrak, Momtaz & Ahmed, Mahmoud & Abdo, Ahmed, 2024. "Enhancing the performance of thermoelectric generators using novel segmental arrangement of multi-functional gradient materials," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    16. Kanimba, Eurydice & Pearson, Matthew & Sharp, Jeff & Stokes, David & Priya, Shashank & Tian, Zhiting, 2018. "A comprehensive model of a lead telluride thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 813-821.
    17. Shen, Zu-Guo & Wu, Shuang-Ying & Xiao, Lan & Chen, Zu-Xiang, 2017. "Proposal and assessment of a solar thermoelectric generation system characterized by Fresnel lens, cavity receiver and heat pipe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 215-238.
    18. Huang, Bin & Shen, Zu-Guo, 2022. "Performance assessment of annular thermoelectric generators for automobile exhaust waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    19. Liu, Zhichun & Zhu, Shiping & Ge, Ya & Shan, Feng & Zeng, Lingping & Liu, Wei, 2017. "Geometry optimization of two-stage thermoelectric generators using simplified conjugate-gradient method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 540-552.
    20. Chen, Lingen & Lorenzini, Giulio, 2023. "Heating load, COP and exergetic efficiency optimizations for TEG-TEH combined thermoelectric device with Thomson effect and external heat transfer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).

    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:243:y:2022:i:c:s0360544221032849. 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.