Abstract
Heat sink lack of design is one reason that negatively affects the performance of thermoelectric modules. As compared to conventional cooling systems equipped with thermoelectric generators (TEG), heat pipe heat sink has various points of interest. Heat pipe heat sink is the most appropriate heat exchanger for medium temperature range under 300 °C. This paper demonstrates the effect of different materials of heat pipe-heat sink on the TEG performance. Two types of heat sinks were tested with TEG, one made from copper while the other from aluminium. The aim is to improve power output of TEG by an appropriate material of fins and metal block with heat pipes. The prototype was experimentally tested and the TEG cold side temperature, voltage and current were measured in both conditions, natural and forced convection. It was found that highest power output was achieved using copper heat sink in the case of forced convection, being 7.7 W whereas, lowest power output was obtained using aluminium heat sink in the case of natural convection, being 2.67 W. It is evident that copper heat sink is more effective than aluminium heat sink in terms of power output. However, both types of heat sink needs optimisation in terms of power output, cost and economic efficiency, while the results shown in this paper are just in terms of power output.
Highlights
A large part of the energy from oil derivatives is wasted in the process of transformation and utilisation including thermal power, automotive combustions, power plants and residential heating
The wind speed was varied between 1.1 m/s and 3 m/s, obtained from data collected from previous studies at Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP)
The two experiments can be compared with the manufacturer’s charts, because the Thermo-electric generator (TEG) cold side temperature was below 100 oC, being the highest limit available from the manufacturer’s data
Summary
A large part of the energy from oil derivatives is wasted in the process of transformation and utilisation including thermal power, automotive combustions, power plants and residential heating. The Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) is sold state device consists of number of legs (thermocouples) These legs are connected electrically in series and thermally in parallel; they are used to convert heat to electricity through the Seebeck effect. TEG heat exchanger’s (heat sink) lack of design is one reason that causes weakness in the conversion efficiency of the TEG[5, 6] These days, there are intensive research in heat sinks with heat pipes that improve heat sinks considerably, with a small temperature drop, because of the use of the latent heat of an internal fluid. The water heat exchanger has a superior performance due to the better convective coefficient that water has compared to air In any case, it presents higher utilisation and application, though with low net efficiency.
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