Efficiency calculation of thermoelectric generator using temperature dependent material's properties
Year: 2016
Type: preprint
Abstract: Accurate measurement of efficiency for thermoelectric generator (TEG) is of great importance for materials research and development. Approximately all the parameters of a material are temperature dependent, so we can't directly apply the $η_\text{max}$ formula for efficiency calculation in the large temperature range. To overcome that problem, we tried to calculate the efficiency of TEG by dividing large working temperature range into a number of small temperature difference. The aim is to make temperature dependent parameter to be constant for that small temperature range. Using maximum individual efficiency of each segment obtained by $η_\text{max}$ in the equation of $η_\text{overall}$, which gives overall efficiency. The $η_\text{overall}$ of TEG using $Bi_2Te_3$ and $TAGS$ as thermoelectric materials come out to be $7.1\%$ and $8.94\%$, respectively, which is close to experimental results. For the high-temperature region, we have used $SiGe$ material in TEG and found out $η_\text{overall}=3.5\%$. The cumulative efficiency obtained by keeping one end temperature fixed with another end varying can be applied in real life application, i.e. automobile sector. The present work provides a simple way for the design engineers to calculate the efficiency of TEG by using the temperature dependent materials parameters like thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and Seebeck coefficient on which $z\bar{T}$ depends.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Gaurav, Kumar, Pandey, Sudhir K
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2471409142