3104 熱電ハーベスタのトポロジー最適化(OS7-5 設計と最適化V～伝熱・廃熱設計2～,OS7 設計と最適化)

Abstract

This paper discusses a geometrical optimization method for thermoelectric generators. Our method provides the optimized geometry in accord with various arbitrary conditions such as types of materials, volume of materials, temperatures of installation position, and shape of installation position. It has the potential to contribute to improving thermoelectric devices in supporting design stages. By establishing the coupled equations of state for the thermoelectric problem, an analytical model subject to these equations is introduced that mimics the closed circuit composed of the thermoelectric materials, electrodes and a resistor. The total electric power lost through the resistor is formulated as an objective function for optimization. The proposed optimization method for thermoelectric generators is implemented as a geometrical optimization method using the solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) method used in topology optimizations. Simple relations are formulated between the density function of SIMP method and physical properties of thermoelectric material. Sensitivity analysis for the objective function is formulated with respect to the density function and the adjoint equations required for calculating it. Depending on the sensitivity, the density function is updated using the method of moving asymptotes, which has numerous benefits in various optimization problems by virtue of its combination with topology optimization. Finally, the numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the validity of our method.