Energy harvesting from household heat sources using a thermoelectric generator module

S.O Giwa,C.N Nwaokocha,O.O Olaluwoye,A.T Layeni

doi:10.4314/njtd.v16i3.6

Abstract

Inefficiency in energy usage has led to the subject of energy harvesting which simply means recycling dissipated waste energy into another useful form of energy. This paper presents the harvesting of waste thermal energy from household heat sources (kerosene stove and generator exhaust pipe) as an electrical energy. Thermoelectric generator (TEG) modules (TGM-161-1.2-2.0) and aluminium heat sinks were constructed and placed close to the heat sources for waste heat harvesting. The hot and cold side temperatures of the TEG modules were measured along with the corresponding output voltages and currents, while the power and energy harvested were estimated. The harvesting of energy from the stove yielded means of 1.532 ± 0.091 V, 0.388 ± 0.003 A, 0.597 ± 0.039 W and 536.87 ± 34.98 J, subject to an average temperature difference of 84.59 ± 3.64 °C. For the generator exhaust pipe, average values of 1.28 ± 0.074 V, 0.285 ± 0.007 A, 0.367 ± 0.029 W and 330.62 ± 26.15 J with an average temperature difference of 62.31 ± 4.88 °C were achieved. The obtained results agreed with previous studies on energy harvesting using TEG modules. This work revealed the potential of waste heat energy harvesting using TEG technology.Keywords: Waste heat; temperature; thermoelectric generators; heat source; energy harvesting

Highlights

Based on socioeconomic perspective, the level of energy consumption is directly related to the economic development and total number of population in a country
Energy was harvested from the waste heat of the kerosene stove burner using the Thermoelectric generator (TEG) module
TEG modules and aluminium heat sinks placed close to the heat sources were employed to harvest the waste heat. Parameters such as the hot and cold side temperatures, output voltages and currents were measured while the power and energy harvested were estimated for each heat source

Summary

Introduction

The level of energy consumption is directly related to the economic development and total number of population in a country. Over 4 million people die prematurely from illness due to the household air pollution by cooking with solid biomass fuels (Risha, et al, 2015; WHO, 2014). TEGs are devices that convert heat energy (subject to temperature gradients) into usable electricity. Seebeck observed that when a loop of two dissimilar materials was heated on one side, an electromagnetic field was created. He stated that the electromagnetic field strength and the voltage are directly proportional to the temperature gradient between the hot and cold sides of the material. The amount of the Seebeck coefficient (S) varies with material and temperature of operation as expressed in Eqn (1) (Jo et al, 2012; DiSalvo, 1999; John, 2014)

Methods

Results

Conclusion