Thermodynamic analysis of a thermoelectric device

Thermoelectric devices are the possible candidates to generate direct electricity from the available thermal radiation as well as other heat sources. As compared with conventional power generating devices, they are more compact, longer-lived and environmental friendly. In the present study, the thermoelectric diode is considered and electronic as well as Carnot efficiency of the device are computed. It is found that increasing emitter temperature increases the Carnot efficiency of the device; in which case, diode power intensity and electronic efficiency reduce. The second law efficiency increases with emitter to collector temperature ratio and reduces with increasing collector temperature owing to increase in collector current flow.

[1]  C. B. Vining.  The Thermoelectric Process , 1997 .

[2]  G. J. Snyder,et al.  Development of high efficiency segmented thermoelectric unicouples , 2001, Proceedings ICT2001. 20 International Conference on Thermoelectrics (Cat. No.01TH8589).

[3]  Jeffrey M Gordon,et al.  Temperature-entropy formulation of thermoelectric thermodynamic cycles. , 2002, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[4]  L. E. Bell,et al.  Experimental results confirming improved efficiency of thermoelectric power generation systems with alternate thermodynamic cycles , 2003, Proceedings ICT'03. 22nd International Conference on Thermoelectrics (IEEE Cat. No.03TH8726).

[5]  Marc A. Rosen,et al.  Exergetic Efficiencies and the Exergy Content of Terrestrial Solar Radiation , 2004 .