Modeling and analysis of the effect of thermal losses on thermoelectric generator performance using effective properties

Heonjoong Lee, Jeff Sharp, David Stokes, Matthew Pearson and Shashank Priya

Applied Energy, 2018, vol. 211, issue C, 987-996

Abstract: A mathematical model for a thermoelectric generator (TEG) based on constitutive equations has been developed to analyze temperature dependent performance in terms of output power and efficiency. Temperature dependent material properties and thermal losses, which occur as conductive and radiative heat transfer, were considered in the finite element model. Effective material properties were invoked for understanding the influence of temperature dependence of material parameters and related adverse effects on the model TEG. It is shown that analytical equations with effective properties can provide excellent estimation of the performance of a TEG over a broad operating range. The model was simulated, analyzed and validated to examine the effects of different operating conditions and geometry that interact with thermal losses inside the TEG. We believe that this model will further expedite the optimization of TEGs being developed using new material compositions.

Keywords: Thermoelectric generator; Performance; Thermal losses; Energy conversion efficiency; Effective properties (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261917316975
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:211:y:2018:i:c:p:987-996

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.2017.11.096

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 ().