Abstract
Improving the efficiency of an internal combustion engine (ICE) leads to the reduction of fuel consumption, which improves the performance of a hybrid vehicle. Waste heat recovery (WHR) systems offer options to improve the efficiency of an ICE. This is due to the ICE releasing approximately one third of the combustion energy as waste heat into the atmosphere. This paper focuses on one such upcoming system by analysing the efficiency of a thermoelectric generator (TEG) used as a waste heat recovery system in a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). It summarises how the efficiency of the TEG can be improved by considering parameters such as the size of module, materials used, and the number of modules needed for the TEG system. The results obtained are then compared with other types of WHR system such as the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and turbocompounding (T/C) implemented on the same type of engine. The research is based on a 1.8 L Toyota Prius-type engine. The TEG model simulated in this research can generate a maximum power of 1015 W at an engine speed of 5200 RPM. The overall system efficiency of TEG implemented on the HEV model is 6% with the average engine speed operating at 2000 RPM.
Highlights
By 2040 it is estimated that the world’s energy consumption will increase by almost 50% [1].The development of electric vehicles such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) is ramping up at differing rates
The aim of this research was to investigate the thermoelectric generator used for waste heat recovery systems in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and the objectives comprised the modelling of the thermoelectric generator in GT-Suite software, to study the conversion of heat energy to the source, the investigation of the thermoelectric generator module in different sizes and number of thermoelectric modules and the efficiency analysis of the thermoelectric generator in HEV
The first part will provide the results for the engine model, thermoelectric generator (TEG) model and HEV model simulations
Summary
By 2040 it is estimated that the world’s energy consumption will increase by almost 50% [1]. The development of electric vehicles such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) is ramping up at differing rates. Several electric vehicles are already in the market, developed by companies such as Toyota, Honda, BMW, Chevrolet and Mitsubishi. A HEV contains both an internal combustion engine (ICE) and an electric propulsion system. All vehicles that use combustion engines experience energy loss in terms of heat loss. Current internal combustion engines are approximately 25% efficient under current driving cycle certification [2]
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