Output performance improvement for thermoelectric transistor with the consideration of the Thomson effect and geometry optimization
Bohang Nan,
Tao Guo,
Hao Deng,
Guangbing Zhang,
Ran Shi,
Jiakai Xin,
Chen Tang and
Guiying Xu
Applied Energy, 2024, vol. 357, issue C, No S0306261923018871
Abstract:
Despite significant attention paid to thermoelectric generators in the energy conversion field, their limited output performance has restricted their large-scale applications. Therefore, there is a pressing need to conceive a novel thermoelectric device concept that can strengthen their competitiveness. In this context, the concept and principle of thermoelectric (TE) transistor with ultrahigh performance is a demand-driven innovation. Built on the foundation of a PNP structure, TE transistor only relies on the Seebeck voltage to operate normally. This work employs P-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 and N-type Bi2Te2.97Se0.03 as the component materials. By considering the conduction heat, Joule heat, Thomson heat, and temperature-dependent material properties, a one-dimensional heat transfer model was used to obtain the nonlinear temperature profile inside TE transistor. Further, the structure and operation conditions of TE transistor with varying geometric dimensions were determined based on the hole concentration distribution and build-in voltage variation. Finally, the optimal concentrations and geometric dimensions of TE transistor were obtained using a compromise method. The calculation results reveal that TE transistor can achieve an optimal output power of 133.7 mW under a temperature difference of 50 K (Th = 353 K, Tc = 303 K) with the corresponding conversion efficiency of 7.73%. This work provides theoretical guidance for future experimental validation of TE transistor.
Keywords: Thermoelectric transistors; Thomson effect; Output power; Geometry optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261923018871
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:357:y:2024:i:c:s0306261923018871
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic
DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.122523
Access Statistics for this article
Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan
More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu (repec@elsevier.com).