Effect of halocarbon refrigerants as working fluid of the heat pipe for thermoelectric power generation

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of a refrigerant in a heat pipe for thermoelectric power generation (TEG). R22, R32, R134a, and R410a were used as working fluids. A water bath was used to heat the hot side of the TEG, and a heat pipe was used to cool the cool side of the TEG. Eight high-performance TEGs connected in series were used in this study. The heat-absorbing section of the heat pipe was the evaporator while at the top section was the condenser. The experiment tested ten conditions of the hot-side temperature of the TEG as 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, and 80 °C. In each testing condition, the necessary parameters were collected, such as the hot-side and cool-side temperature of the TEG, the inlet and outlet of the cooling air of the heat pipe condenser, the temperature of the heat pipe condenser and heat pipe evaporator, the voltage, and the current generated by the TEG. The necessary parameters were used to investigate the power generation of the TEG module, which is related to the hot-side temperature of the TEG. Multiple linear regression was used to investigate the relation of TEG power generation. The result was found that the power generation of the TEG was in direct relation to the hot-side temperature of the TEG, for which the correlations are reported. The average power generation of R410a, R22, R134a, and R32 is 45.4, 46.3, 49.5, and 62.7 mW, respectively. Finally, it can be concluded that the halocarbon refrigerant of the heat pipe has a significant effect on the TEG power generation.