Analysis of the influence of different thermal boundary conditions on thermoelectric generators

Abstract

To compare the effects of different thermal boundary models on the output performance of a thermoelectric generator, this study used COSMOL software to analyze the influence of different thermal boundary models on output power. Considering maximuming power density, the effects of thermal boundary models on PN(P and N type semiconductor) pair structure optimization were also calculated. In addition, for each model, the output power using a constant physical property and variable physical property was also compared. The results showed that it is not recommended to consider the thermal isolation boundary between PN pairs. Moreover, different models had the same optimal scale regardless of the hot side temperature of the thermoelectric module at the range of fixed lengths. When the temperature of the hot end was below 250 °C, the variable physical property of thermoelectric materials could be replaced by a constant physical property case to simplify the model and exhibit power calculation accuracy.