Multi-parameter Optimization of a Thermoelectric Power Generator and Its Working Conditions
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- 作者：T. Zhang
- 关键词：Thermoelectrics generators ; thermal conductance ratio ; electric load resistance ratio ; temperature difference ratio ; optimization
- 刊名：Journal of Electronic Materials
- 出版年：2017
- 出版时间：January 2017
- 年：2017
- 卷：46
- 期：1
- 页码：14-22
- 全文大小：
- 刊物类别：Chemistry and Materials Science
- 刊物主题：Optical and Electronic Materials; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Electronics and Microelectronics, Instrumentation; Solid State Physics;
- 出版者：Springer US
- ISSN：1543-186X
- 卷排序：46
文摘
The global optimal working conditions and optimal couple design for thermoelectric (TE) generators with realistic thermal coupling between the heat reservoirs and the TE couple were studied in the current work. The heat fluxes enforced by the heat reservoirs at the hot and the cold junctions of the TE couple were used in combination with parameter normalization to obtain a single cubic algebraic equation relating the temperature differences between the TE couple junctions and between the heat reservoirs, through the electric load resistance ratio, the reservoir thermal conductance ratio, the reservoir thermal conductance to the TE couple thermal conductance ratio, the Thomson to Seebeck coefficient ratio, and the figure of merit (Z) of the material based on the linear TE transport equations and their solutions. A broad reservoir thermal conductance ranging between 0.01 W/K and 100 W/K and TE element length ranging from 10-7 m to 10-3 m were explored to find the global optimal systems. The global optimal parameters related to the working conditions, i.e., reservoir thermal conductance ratio and electric load resistance ratio, and the optimal design parameter related to the TE couple were determined for a given TE material. These results demonstrated that the internal and external electric resistance, the thermal resistance between the reservoirs, the thermal resistance between the reservoir and the TE couple, and the optimal thermoelement length have to be well coordinated to obtain optimal power production.