Abstract
In this study, thermoelectric generation with impinging hot and cold nanofluid jets is considered with computational fluid dynamics by using the finite element method. Highly conductive CNT particles are used in the water jets. Impacts of the Reynolds number of nanojet stream combinations (between (Re1, Re2) = (250, 250) to (1000, 1000)), horizontal distance of the jet inlet from the thermoelectric device (between (r1, r2) = (−0.25, −0.25) to (1.5, 1.5)), impinging jet inlet to target surfaces (between w2 and 4w2) and solid nanoparticle volume fraction (between 0 and 2%) on the interface temperature variations, thermoelectric output power generation and conversion efficiencies are numerically assessed. Higher powers and efficiencies are achieved when the jet stream Reynolds numbers and nanoparticle volume fractions are increased. Generated power and efficiency enhancements 81.5% and 23.8% when lowest and highest Reynolds number combinations are compared. However, the power enhancement with nanojets using highly conductive CNT particles is 14% at the highest solid volume fractions as compared to pure water jet. Impacts of horizontal location of jet inlets affect the power generation and conversion efficiency and 43% variation in the generated power is achieved. Lower values of distances between the jet inlets to the target surface resulted in higher power generation while an optimum value for the highest efficiency is obtained at location zh = 2.5ws. There is 18% enhancement in the conversion efficiency when distances at zh = ws and zh = 2.5ws are compared. Finally, polynomial type regression models are obtained for estimation of generated power and conversion efficiencies for water-jets and nanojets considering various values of jet Reynolds numbers. Accurate predictions are obtained with this modeling approach and it is helpful in assisting the high fidelity computational fluid dynamics simulations results.
Highlights
Extensive research is dedicated to the studies related to progress of clean energy technologies and products during the recent years due to the cost of energy and environmental side effects
Karthick et al [2] gave an overview for the application of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) in solar energy and their effectiveness in the usage are discussed in depth
Polynomial based regression models were used for the estimation of generated power and efficiencies of the TEG device by using data from high fidelity computational fluid dynamics simulation results
Summary
Extensive research is dedicated to the studies related to progress of clean energy technologies and products during the recent years due to the cost of energy and environmental side effects. Thermoelectric (TE) devices are integrated in many technological applications such as in waste heat recovery, military space, solar energy, refrigeration, thermal management and many others. In a recent review work of Mohammadpour and Lee [37], recent advancements in the application of nanofluid jet impingement heat transfer are studied. Thermal transport features of base fluid with the inclusion of nano-sized particles will be enhanced and higher local and average heat transfer values are obtained in the jet impingement heat transfer configuration. It is important to consider novel thermo-fluid configurations in order to achieve higher performances and power generations from the TEG integrated systems along with the latest developments in the construction materials of TEG modules and their geometrical parameters. We consider thermoelectric generation by a novel thermofluid configuration using impinging jets of hot and cold fluid streams. Polynomial regression models are offered for the generated power and efficiency of the TEG device for various input parameters of interest and it is helpful to assist the 3D high fidelity CFD computations
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