Performance Analysis of (Bi2Te3-PbTe) Hybrid Thermoelectric Generator

Abstract

The performance of (Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub>-PbTe) hybrid thermoelectric generator (TEG)<strong> </strong>composed of n-type Bismuth Telluride and p-type Lead Telluride semiconductor materials is presented in this paper. <strong> </strong>The effect of different performance parameters such as output voltage, output current, output power, maximum power output, open circuit voltage, Seebeck co-efficient, electrical resistance, thermal conductance, figure of merit, efficiency, heat absorbed and heat removed based on maximum conversion and power efficiency have been theoretically analyzed by varying the hot side temperature of the hybrid thermoelectric generator up to 350<sup>o</sup>C and by varying the cold side temperature from 30<sup>o</sup>C to 150<sup>o</sup>C. The results showed that a maximum power output of 21.7 W has been obtained with the use of one hybrid thermoelectric module for a temperature difference of 320<sup>o</sup>C between the hot and cold side of the thermoelectric generator at matched load resistance. The figure of merit was found to be around 1.28 which makes its usage possible in the intermediate temperature (250<sup>o</sup>C to 350<sup>o</sup>C) applications such as heating of Biomass waste, heat from Biomass cook stoves or waste heat recovery etc. It is also observed that the hybrid thermoelectric generator offers superior performance over 250<sup>o</sup>C of the hot side temperature, compared to standard Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3 </sub>modules.