Thermoelectric Harvesting Using Warm-Blooded Animals in Wildlife Tracking Applications

Eiko Bäumker, Pascal Beck and Peter Woias
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Eiko Bäumker: Laboratory for the Design of Microsystems-IMTEK, University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 102, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
Pascal Beck: Laboratory for the Design of Microsystems-IMTEK, University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 102, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
Peter Woias: Laboratory for the Design of Microsystems-IMTEK, University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 102, 79110 Freiburg, Germany

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-10

Abstract: This paper focuses on the design of an optimized thermal interface for a thermoelectric energy harvesting system mounted at endothermic animals. In this application scenario the mammal’s fur reduces the heat flux from the animal’s body through a thermoelectric generator (TEG) to the ambient air. This requires an adapted design of the thermal interface between TEG and body surface, to increase its thermal conductivity without harming the animal. For this purpose the thermal conductivity through a mammal’s fur is determined with a specially designed heatsink. An analytical model is built to predict the resulting thermal resistances and is validated with experimental results for two different fur lengths. We show that an optimized design of the thermal interface reduces its thermal resistance up to 38% compared to a trivial design while lowering its weight for about 23%. It is found that the most important design parameter of such a thermal connector is the ability to slide into the fur.

Keywords: tracker; wildlifetracking; heat flux; thermal resistance; thermal conductance; thermal energy harvesting; endothermic animal; fur (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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