An analytical model for performance prediction and optimization of thermoelectric generators with varied leg cross-sections

Abstract With the improvement on materials performance gradually reaching its bottleneck, more and more works focus on optimizing the device structures to seek further performance enhancement of thermoelectric (TE) devices. This paper proposed an analytical model to calculate the performance of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) with varied leg cross-sections considering temperature-dependent material properties. The explicit expressions of output power and efficiency are derived and the model is verified by finite element method (FEM). Furthermore, the optimization of leg geometry for higher device performance is performed based on the presented model, the results show that the key to maximum output power is to minimize the leg resistance; and increasing the leg volume may simultaneously raise the output power and efficiency. In addition, we apply the presented model to optimize the leg shape of a commercial TEG module and find that the optimized geometry can simultaneously achieve an enhancement up to 43.1% for output power and 9.67% for efficiency. The presented model thus may be useful in designing high-performance TEGs and shed considerable light on the principles of TEG design.

[1]  Changsheng Qiu,et al.  Comprehensive modeling for optimized design of a thermoelectric cooler with non-constant cross-section: Theoretical considerations , 2020 .

[2]  O. I. Ibeagwu.  Modelling and comprehensive analysis of TEGs with diverse variable leg geometry , 2019, Energy.

[3]  K. Mossi,et al.  Influence of leg sizing and spacing on power generation and thermal stresses of thermoelectric devices , 2015 .

[4]  M. Kanatzidis,et al.  High-performance bulk thermoelectrics with all-scale hierarchical architectures , 2012, Nature.

[5]  T. Zhang,et al.  New thinking on modeling of thermoelectric devices , 2016 .

[6]  R. Venkatasubramanian,et al.  Thin-film thermoelectric devices with high room-temperature figures of merit , 2001, Nature.

[7]  Zijun Yan,et al.  The influence of Thomson effect on the maximum power output and maximum efficiency of a thermoelectric generator , 1996 .

[8]  Gao Min,et al.  Model for geometry optimisation of thermoelectric devices in a hybrid PV/TE system , 2016 .

[9]  Rasmus Bjørk,et al.  An Analytical Model for the Influence of Contact Resistance on Thermoelectric Efficiency , 2016, Journal of Electronic Materials.

[10]  E. E. Antonova,et al.  Finite elements for thermoelectric device analysis in ANSYS , 2005, ICT 2005. 24th International Conference on Thermoelectrics, 2005..

[11]  D. Rowe.  Thermoelectrics Handbook , 2005 .

[12]  Chin‐Hsiang Cheng,et al.  Improvement of transient supercooling of thermoelectric coolers through variable semiconductor cross-section , 2016 .

[13]  HoSung Lee,et al.  The Thomson effect and the ideal equation on thermoelectric coolers , 2013 .

[14]  Abdullah Al-Sharafi,et al.  Innovative design of a thermoelectric generator with extended and segmented pin configurations , 2017 .

[15]  José L. Pérez-Aparicio,et al.  Finite Element Analysis of Nonlinear Fully Coupled Thermoelectric Materials , 2007 .

[16]  G. Dui,et al.  Revisiting the temperature dependence in material properties and performance of thermoelectric materials , 2017 .

[17]  G. J. Snyder,et al.  The Thermoelectric Properties of Bismuth Telluride , 2019, Advanced Electronic Materials.

[18]  P. Wang,et al.  Temperature and performance modeling of thermoelectric generators , 2019, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer.

[19]  R. Taylor,et al.  Finite element analysis and material sensitivity of Peltier thermoelectric cells coolers , 2012 .

[20]  L. Bell.  Cooling, Heating, Generating Power, and Recovering Waste Heat with Thermoelectric Systems , 2008, Science.

[21]  Han Zhang,et al.  Toward Stretchable Self‐Powered Sensors Based on the Thermoelectric Response of PEDOT:PSS/Polyurethane Blends , 2018 .

[22]  Gao Min,et al.  Optimisation of thermoelectric module geometry for ‘waste heat’ electric power generation , 1992 .

[23]  Chin-Hsiang Cheng,et al.  A three-dimensional theoretical model for predicting transient thermal behavior of thermoelectric coolers , 2010 .

[24]  Yaping Zang,et al.  Flexible and self-powered temperature–pressure dual-parameter sensors using microstructure-frame-supported organic thermoelectric materials , 2015, Nature Communications.

[25]  R. Saidur,et al.  A review on nanostructures of high-temperature thermoelectric materials for waste heat recovery , 2016 .

[27]  Bekir Sami Yilbas,et al.  Thermal and stress analyses in thermoelectric generator with tapered and rectangular pin configurations , 2016 .

[28]  P. Wang,et al.  Modeling of thermoelectric generators with effects of side surface heat convection and temperature dependence of material properties , 2019, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer.

[29]  Baolin Wang.  A finite element computational scheme for transient and nonlinear coupling thermoelectric fields and the associated thermal stresses in thermoelectric materials , 2017 .

[30]  An-Bang Wang,et al.  The influence of the Thomson effect on the performance of a thermoelectric cooler , 2005 .

[31]  K. Bartholomé,et al.  Module Geometry and Contact Resistance of Thermoelectric Generators Analyzed by Multiphysics Simulation , 2010 .

[32]  Bekir Sami Yilbas,et al.  Thermodynamics and thermal stress analysis of thermoelectric power generator: Influence of pin geometry on device performance , 2013 .

[33]  G. J. Snyder,et al.  Complex thermoelectric materials. , 2008, Nature materials.

[34]  Lei Yang,et al.  Nanostructured thermoelectric materials: current research and future challenge , 2012 .

[35]  Chin‐Hsiang Cheng,et al.  A three-dimensional numerical modeling of thermoelectric device with consideration of coupling of temperature field and electric potential field , 2012 .

[36]  Bekir Sami Yilbas,et al.  The thermoelement as thermoelectric power generator: Effect of leg geometry on the efficiency and power generation , 2013 .