Characterization of a Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) System for Waste Heat Recovery

Nelson Calderon,Oswaldo Ando Junior,Samara de Souza

doi:10.3390/en11061555

Nelson Calderon, Oswaldo Ando Junior + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en11061555

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Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Jun 14, 2018
Citations: 32	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Federal University for Latin American Integration

Abstract

This paper presents the development and characterization of a thermoelectric generator (TEG) system for waste heat recovery to low temperature in industrial processes. The relevance of this mode of electric energy harvest is that it is clean energy and it depends only on the capture of losses. These residual energies from industrial processes are, in principle, released into the environment without being exploited. With the proposed device, the waste energy will not be released into the environment and will be used for electrical generation, which is useful for heat production. The characterization of TEGs that are used a data-acquisition system have measured data for the voltage, current, and temperature, in real-time, for temperatures down to 200 °C without signal degradation. As a result, the measured data has revealed an open circuit voltage of VOC = 0.4306 × ΔT, internal resistance of R0 = 9.41 Ω, with tolerance ΔRint = ±0.77 Ω, where Rint = 9.41 ± 0.77 Ω. The measurements were made on the condition that the maximum output was obtained at a temperature gradient of ΔT = 80 °C, resulting in a maximum power gain of Pout ≈ 29 W.

Highlights

The energy issue and the demand for alternative sources, which are necessary to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels, are vital for all countries
This new technology includes the development of thermoelectric materials and applied systems, for instance, the wall of conventional furnaces, cooling of heat pipes, devices based on structured deposed, turbo compounding, Rankine and Brayton electric utilities, thermochemical recuperation, in-cylinder waste heat recovery, and improvement of cogeneration systems; which are all used for energy harvest using solid state thermoelectric devices [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]
We have described the small-scale development of the thermoelectric generator prototype, which was sized from the analytical model that was described by Ando Junior [7]

Summary

Introduction

The energy issue and the demand for alternative sources, which are necessary to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels, are vital for all countries. Much has been discussed about clean and renewable energy sources, and the power that has been obtained from the waste heat recovery appears as an alternative, within renewable energy This new technology includes the development of thermoelectric materials and applied systems, for instance, the wall of conventional furnaces, cooling of heat pipes, devices based on structured deposed, turbo compounding, Rankine and Brayton electric utilities, thermochemical recuperation, in-cylinder waste heat recovery, and improvement of cogeneration systems; which are all used for energy harvest using solid state thermoelectric devices [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. The use of thermoelectric generation brings certain advantages, such as high durability, high precision, and reduced size, besides being an excellent way of collecting residual thermal energy, which means it is a clean energy cogeneration [16,17,18,19,20]

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