Multiphysics performance evaluation of thermoelectric generator arrays

Abstract

Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are widely used nowadays in heat recovery and power generation applications. TEGs are connected in series and/or parallel configurations in an array to meet the voltage and/or current requirements of electric load. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the electrical performance of different TEG array configurations employed in TEG systems. In the present study, an experimentally validated hydro-thermoelectric multiphysics computational model is employed by integrating the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach with the TEG model to test the electrical performance of various TEG array configurations and determined load voltage, current, associated power, and conversion efficiency. Each TEGs array configuration’s performance is evaluated by varying the hot water temperature from 27 °C to 42 °C as well as hot and cold water flowrate from 0.5 L/min to 2 L/min. Various configurations including series and a combination of series and parallel connections were designed. The findings show that the series configuration of the TEGs array generates higher electric power than series and parallel combined configurations whereas the latter achieves the maximum power point at a higher electric current than the series configuration. The comparative analysis of CFD model with the experimental results indicates a maximum discrepancy of 7 %. For thermoelectric power-generating systems, the proposed model might serve as a benchmark for optimizing TEGs array configurations according to the electric load requirements.