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Modeling of enhanced micro-energy harvesting of thermal ambient fluctuations with metallic foams embedded in Phase Change Materials

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  • Madruga, Santiago

Abstract

We present an enhanced micro-energy harvester to transform ambient thermal fluctuations into electricity. The design consists of a Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) joined to a thermal storage unit improved with a Phase Change Material within a metallic foam (pPCM). We show how the augmented effective conductivity of the heat storage unit multiplies the production of electric power through voltage generation in higher and shorter sprouts. The porosity of the metallic foam accelerates the heat transfer and permits higher volumes of the heat storage unit to be effective in harvesting more energy from the surroundings. The pPCM/TEG device is a robust and cost-effective means to optimize the output of TEG based systems to power low-consumption electronics. The potential of this design is demonstrated with examples of micro-energy harvesting under ambient thermal conditions in an aircraft and ground solar irradiation. In these applications, a single TEG module with a moderate merit figure is used and found that pPCM allows a substantial optimization of energy conversion. As an example, the pPCM/TEG devices produce about twenty times more electric energy at even small volume fractions of the foam ε=0.95 than PCM/TEG systems in solar micro-energy harvesting on ground conditions with low thermal gradients.

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  • Madruga, Santiago, 2021. "Modeling of enhanced micro-energy harvesting of thermal ambient fluctuations with metallic foams embedded in Phase Change Materials," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 424-437.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:168:y:2021:i:c:p:424-437
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.12.041
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Peng, Hao & Guo, Wenhua & Feng, Shiyu & Shen, Yijun, 2022. "A novel thermoelectric energy harvester using gallium as phase change material for spacecraft power application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    2. Yousefi, Esmaeil & Nejad, Ali Abbas & Rezania, Alireza, 2022. "Higher power output in thermoelectric generator integrated with phase change material and metal foams under transient boundary condition," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    3. Madruga, Santiago & Mendoza, Carolina, 2022. "Introducing a new concept for enhanced micro-energy harvesting of thermal fluctuations through the Marangoni effect," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    4. Joung, Jaewon & Cheon, Seong-Yong & Kang, Yong-Kwon & Kim, Minseong & Park, Junseok & Jeong, Jae-Weon, 2023. "Impact of external electric resistance on the power generation in the thermoelectric energy harvesting blocks," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 779-791.
    5. Yousefi, Esmaeil & Kayhani, Mohammad Hassan & Abbas Nejad, Ali & Nikkhoo, Amirfarhang, 2024. "Experimental investigation of the external load effect on thermoelectric generator discharge time in a low power energy harvesting system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).

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