Abstract
In order to provide heat and electricity under emergency conditions in off-grid areas, a stove-powered thermoelectric generator (STEG) was designed and optimized. No battery was incorporated, ensuring it would work anytime, anywhere, as long as combustible materials were provided. The startup performance, power load feature and thermoelectric (TE) efficiency were investigated in detail. Furthermore, the heat-conducting plate thickness, cooling fan selection, heat sink dimension and TE module configuration were optimized. The heat flow method was employed to determine the TE efficiency, which was compared to the predicted data. Results showed that the STEG can supply clean-and-warm air (625 W) and electricity (8.25 W at 5 V) continuously at a temperature difference of 148 °C, and the corresponding TE efficiency was measured to be 2.31%. Optimization showed that the choice of heat-conducting plate thickness, heat sink dimensions and cooling fan were inter-dependent, and the TE module configuration affected both the startup process and the power output.
Highlights
One-point-three billion people still live in off-grid areas [1], and natural disasters often cut off the electricity supply in developed countries and regions
Over two billion people burn biomass for cooking and heating [3], which means that the stove-powered thermoelectric generator (STEG) has good prospects
Designed another type of water-cooled STEG, For NDAC STEG, Nuwayhid et al demonstrated that the combination of a TE module and a producing a net output of electricity of 19 W with a TE efficiency of about 4–5% for a temperature stove can produce electricity [2,13,14]
Summary
One-point-three billion people still live in off-grid areas [1], and natural disasters often cut off the electricity supply in developed countries and regions. Solar power generators and wind power generators are major solutions for the off-grid regions, yet they are weather dependent. Generating electricity from biomass stoves has attracted much attention in recent years [2]. This has been achieved by adopting TE modules so that combustion inside the stove can power the thermoelectric generator, while cooking and heating still work simultaneously. Over two billion people burn biomass for cooking and heating [3], which means that the stove-powered thermoelectric generator (STEG) has good prospects. 1. Diagram basicstove-powered stove-powered thermoelectric generator (STEG)
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