Abstract
The present study explores the utilization of a porous burner for thermoelectric power generation. The porous burner was tested with butane gas using two sets of configurations: single layer porcelain and a stacked-up double layer alumina and porcelain. Six PbSnTe thermoelectric (TE) modules with a total area of 54 cm2were attached to the wall of the burner. Fins were also added to the cold side of the TE modules. Fuel-air equivalence ratio was varied between the blowoff and flashback limit and the corresponding temperature, current-voltage, and emissions were recorded. The stacked-up double layer negatively affected the combustion efficiency at an equivalence ratio of 0.20 to 0.42, but single layer porcelain shows diminishing trend in the equivalence ratio of 0.60 to 0.90. The surface temperature of a stacked-up porous media is considerably higher than the single layer. Carbon monoxide emission is independent for both porous media configurations, but moderate reduction was recorded for single layer porcelain at lean fuel-air equivalence ratio. Nitrogen oxides is insensitive in the lean fuel-air equivalence ratio for both configurations, even though slight reduction was observed in the rich region for single layer porcelain. Power output was found to be highly dependent on the temperature gradient.
Highlights
The merits of utilizing thermoelectric (TE) devices in various energy conversion systems have led to their application in many engineering fields
Substantial amount of carbon monoxide (CO) emission recorded in this study suggested a deleterious impact of porous media combustion using butane gas as primary fuel
Two types of configurations were assessed: double layer porous burner composed of alumina and porcelain and single layer porcelain only
Summary
The merits of utilizing thermoelectric (TE) devices in various energy conversion systems have led to their application in many engineering fields. Thermal to electric energy transformation that pertains to thermoelectric system takes place when the heat produced from the combustion products in the burner flows through the TE modules. Lack of understanding and inadequate information from the works cited previously highlighted the unintended voids left by these authors in omitting the burner performance and gas emission from the burner. This opens up new avenues for researchers to realize that much effort is still needed to cover these aspects to regard TE modules as a good candidate for TE power generation. The present work is initiated to expound more succinctly the overall performance of the TE power generation system, by including the thermal characteristics of the burner
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