Design of Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric generator in a widely applicable system

Abstract

A Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric generator (TEG) system cooled by heat radiation fin (HRF) applies to most scenarios of low-temperature power generation and waste heat recovery, while the high performance of the TEG system requires the precise design of the structure. Here we developed a theoretical model to simulate the thermal-electric coupling of the TEG system and analyzed the Bi2Te3-based TEG system with the aid of numerical and experimental methods. Results show that the increase in height of TEG not only improves the conversion efficiency but leads to a peak value of output power, which is much different from the traditional view that the output power solely decreases with the increase of height of TEG. Compared to the thickness of the fin, the height of the fin plays an essential role in optimizing the performance of TEG. By adding an electrical fan to improve the heat exchange coefficient, the net output power is doubled and the net conversion efficiency is improved by more than 80%. Besides, the structure of the TEG system is designed for different material parameters via the theoretical method. We anticipate that our results will guide the design and optimization of the TEG system.