Thermoelectric Power Generation: Material through to System Design

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2018) | Viewed by 13756

Special Issue Editors

STEM College, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe St., Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Interests: renewable energy systems; sustainable desalination; water-energy nexus
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Interests: symbiotic energy conversion systems, thermoelectric power generation, mechanical engineering design and management, renewable energy systems, numerical simulation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Thermoelectrics have long been recognized as a unique energy conversion technology due to their capability to convert heat directly into electricity with no moving parts. Despite this potential, except for specialized situations, thermoelectric devices have limited applications because of their low efficiency. Generally, they exhibit low conversion efficiency because of the relatively small figure-of-merit (ZT) of currently-available thermoelectric materials. Many efforts have been made over recent years in improving thermoelectric conversion efficiency by increasing ZT, with only marginal success. This Special Issue seeks to extend thermoelectric research on power generation to the broader context. The Special Issue provides a forum for state-of-the-art research on thermoelectric materials and modules, thermoelectric efficiency and performance, thermoelectric applications and thermoelectric economic assessments. We encourage papers that deepen our understanding of thermoelectric power generation by drawing on multiple theoretical backgrounds and methods and by leveraging novel thermoelectric applications.

Prof. Aliakba Akbarzadeh
Dr. Amir Faraji
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 63156 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of the Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting Potential at Different Latitudes Using Solar Flat Panels Systems with Buried Heat Sink
by Pedro Carvalhaes-Dias, Andreu Cabot and J. A. Siqueira Dias
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(12), 2641; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122641 - 16 Dec 2018
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 5887
Abstract
Thermoelectric generators (TEG) can harvest solar energy during the day using solar flat panels. They can also benefit from the use of a material that stores solar energy to generate additional power at night, when the panel cools down and the energy stored [...] Read more.
Thermoelectric generators (TEG) can harvest solar energy during the day using solar flat panels. They can also benefit from the use of a material that stores solar energy to generate additional power at night, when the panel cools down and the energy stored in this material travels back, through the TEG. The soil can be used as the material that stores solar energy, but the performance of such systems, with the heat sink buried in the soil, depends on the ambient and the soil temperature, parameters which can change drastically with the latitude of the location where the TEG is installed. We present an experimental study with the comparison of the potential energy that can be collected from a TEG system with heat sink buried at different depths and at different latitudes: Campinas, Brazil − 22 54 20 S; and Mataró, Catalonia, Spain − 41 32 17 N. The potential of energy harvesting calculated during 32 winter days in Campinas is 72% of the total calculated during 205 days in Mataró. Experimental results obtained from a complete TEG system showed that in Campinas, during one day, it was possible to store 34.11 J of electrical energy in a supercapacitor. Notably, we demonstrate that the energy generated during the night by the heat stored into the soil can be as high as the energy generated during the day. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermoelectric Power Generation: Material through to System Design)
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21 pages, 6319 KiB  
Article
TEG Design for Waste Heat Recovery at an Aviation Jet Engine Nozzle
by Pawel Ziolkowski, Knud Zabrocki and Eckhard Müller
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(12), 2637; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122637 - 16 Dec 2018
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4861
Abstract
Finite element model (FEM)-based simulations are conducted for the application of a thermoelectric generator (TEG) between the hot core stream and the cool bypass flow at the nozzle of an aviation turbofan engine. This work reports the resulting requirements on the TEG design [...] Read more.
Finite element model (FEM)-based simulations are conducted for the application of a thermoelectric generator (TEG) between the hot core stream and the cool bypass flow at the nozzle of an aviation turbofan engine. This work reports the resulting requirements on the TEG design with respect to applied thermoelectric (TE) element lengths and filling factors (F) of the TE modules in order to achieve a positive effect on the specific fuel consumption. Assuming a virtual optimized TE material and varying the convective heat transfer coefficients (HTC) between the nozzle surfaces and the gas flows, this work reports the achievable power output. System-level requirement on the gravimetric power density (>100 Wkg−1) can only be met for F ≤ 21%. When extrapolating TEG coverage to the full nozzle surface, the power output reaches 1.65 kW per engine. The assessment of further potential for power generation is demonstrated by a parametric study on F, convective HTC, and materials performance. This study confirms a feasible design range for TEG installation on the aircraft nozzle with a positive impact on the fuel consumption. This application translates into a reduction of operational costs, allowing for an economically efficient TEG-installation with respect to the cost-specific power output of modern thermoelectric materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermoelectric Power Generation: Material through to System Design)
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8 pages, 1819 KiB  
Article
Study of the Precipitation Process in Aging Steel Pipeline Weldments by Thermoelectric Power Means
by Sergio Ramirez, Hector Carreon, Maria G. Carreon, Melchor Salazar, Luis Bejar and Ariosto Medina
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(9), 1489; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8091489 - 29 Aug 2018
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2430
Abstract
The microstructural changes due to the aging process in steel pipeline weldments as a function of the thermoelectric power (TEP) were studied. In general, the thermoelectric methods are based on the well-known Seebeck effect. The thermoelectric methods monitor the TEP via an electron [...] Read more.
The microstructural changes due to the aging process in steel pipeline weldments as a function of the thermoelectric power (TEP) were studied. In general, the thermoelectric methods are based on the well-known Seebeck effect. The thermoelectric methods monitor the TEP via an electron flux induced by a temperature gradient in metallic materials, which is affected by the different types of defects that are present in the atomic lattice, such as atoms in the solid solution, precipitates and dislocations. In this present study, the relationship among the TEP data, hardness and the microstructure of steel pipeline weldments was investigated. In addition, the coarse and dendritic grain structure of the welding material is extremely and unpredictably anisotropic. Such microstructures are no longer direction-independent to the electron flux. Therefore, it has an opposite negative effect on the TEP and overlaps the precipitation effect due to the aging process. TEP and hardness measurements were obtained in each zone of the weldments. For each section of the weldment, the weld bead (WB), heat affected zone (HAZ) and base metal (BM) were found to correspond to particular values of TEP. The relationship between the TEP and the microstructure of a weldment of X60 and X65 micro-alloyed steel that was artificially aged was obtained using the conventional contact TEP technique (hot-tip) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that thermoelectric power is very sensitive to the aging process in the two-studied steel pipeline weldments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermoelectric Power Generation: Material through to System Design)
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