Efficiency analysis of thermoelectric generators

Abstract

The negative environmental and economic impact, derived from the use of fossil fuels – oil, coal, gas, and other non-renewable sources of energy – has stimulated scientific research on clean and economically viable sources. Photovoltaics and wind power are intermittent sources which stimulates the quest for other energy sources. In this sense, a promising source of energy is made up of Thermoelectric Generators (TEGs), which have the property of converting thermal energy into electrical energy, through the well-known Seebeck Effect. A new methodology for the characterization of these devices is presented in this work. For a robust analysis of the measures, the extraction of parameters is done through the meta-heuristic Self-Adaptive differential evolution method. This is made possible by simultaneous fitting of three equations and five parameters in a consistent autonomous fashion. Besides a robust experimental setup which allows the generation and precise control of the temperature variable as electrical measurements, in a controlled environment, and a thorough statistical analysis is carried for eight TEGs, model SP-184827145 which gives the mean performance of the manufactured devices. The results obtained with low uncertainties indicates that this methodology is a reliable and low-cost option for the characterization of thermoelectric devices.