Experimental investigation on the influence of phase change material on the output performance of thermoelectric generator

Jun Wang, Xiangxiang Song, Qiqiang Ni, Xingjun Li and Qingtian Meng

Renewable Energy, 2021, vol. 177, issue C, 884-894

Abstract: Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) can convert heat into electricity directly. However, the thermal boundary conditions are intermittent and high temperature in most TEG systems. Therefore, thermal management of TEG systems is of great significance. It is an efficient technology to use phase change material (PCM) for thermal management of the TEG systems. PCM is applied to hot side of TEG in this study, and the phase change material-thermoelectric generation (PCM-TEG) system is set up. For the purpose of exploring the effect of the PCM on the output performance of TEG, the common TEG system is established to compare with PCM-TEG system. Furthermore, the effect of the heat transfer characteristics of PCM on TEG output performance is investigated and discussed in detail under different pulse transient thermal boundary conditions. Experimental results show that PCM can reduce the temperature fluctuation to protect TEG and extend the temperature difference operation time. The PCM of solid state, solid-liquid coexistence state and liquid state have different effects on reducing the temperature fluctuation. Besides, the PCM-TEG system cannot provide the peak output power provided by the common TEG system, but it is still beneficial to provide a stable output power.

Keywords: Phase change material; Thermoelectric generator; Pulse transient thermal boundary conditions; Energy conversion; Thermal management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:177:y:2021:i:c:p:884-894

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.06.014

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