Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Recent studies have analyzed the viability of generating electricity by means of thermoelectric modules applied to processes with large amounts of waste heat.The simulation of the performance of large-scale designs of thermoelectric generators (TEGs), however, is a very complex task since it involves a coupling between both electrical and thermal phenomena.In addition, a single TEG module contains tenths of small P-type and N-type semiconductor legs, which implies that the simulation must take into account domains with characteristic lengths that vary several orders of magnitude.Here, we propose a methodology for determining the effective heat conductance of a single TEG module that can be employed for simulating the entire element without entry into the details of its inner composition.The effective thermal conductance here proposed can be understood as the coefficient that predicts, at different operating conditions, an upper bound of the electrical power generated by the TEG module.
DOI: 10.24084/repaj15.387
Authors: I. Ruiz, M. Borrelli, T. Pujol, N. Luo, L. Pacheco, A. Massaguer, L. Montoro
Institutions: Universitat de Girona, University of Sannio
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: Universitat de Girona
Awards: G529112495, G5302156685
OpenAlex ID: W2607369705