Abstract
This paper presents a computational study of the combined effects of variable geometry and asymmetry in the legs of thermocouples of thermoelectric modules used in solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs). Six different models were considered for the thermocouples in each module, namely: rectangular-rectangular legs, rectangular-trapezoidal legs, rectangular-X legs, trapezoidal-trapezoidal legs, trapezoidal-X legs, and X-X legs. Simulations of the six different modules under the same heat flux was carried out in ANSYS 2020 R2 software. Temperature and voltage distributions were obtained for each model and the results indicate significant variations due to the utilization of varying leg geometries. Results show that the X-X leg module generated the highest temperature gradient and electric voltage. In comparison, a temperature gradient and electric voltage of 297 K and 16 V, respectively were achieved with the X-X leg module as against 182 K and 8.4 V, respectively, achieved in a conventional rectangular leg module. This suggests a 63.2% and 90.5% increase in the temperature gradient and electric voltage of the conventional TE module. Therefore, this study demonstrates that X geometry gives the best performance for thermoelectric modules and STEGs.
Highlights
Research into improving the performance of a fledging renewable energy technology, solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs), is rapidly gaining interest
As seen from eq (1), one significant way of improving this efficiency is by increasing the temperature gradient, ΔT, across the device
An electric voltage is generated in the presence of the temperature gradient
Summary
Research into improving the performance of a fledging renewable energy technology, solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs), is rapidly gaining interest. This is due to the several attractive features of thermoelectric (TE) devices like being solid state devices & frictionless, noiseless, compact, and having little maintenance requirements [1]. As seen from eq (1), one significant way of improving this efficiency is by increasing the temperature gradient, ΔT, across the device. This is because phenomenologically, TE devices convert thermal energy into electricity through the Seebeck effect. One such technique is the variation of the TE leg geometry
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