TY - GEN
T1 - Heat transfer modeling and geometry optimization of TEG for automobile applications
AU - Fu, Gaosheng
AU - Zhang, Bo
AU - Zuo, Lei
AU - Longtin, Jon P.
AU - Sampath, Sanjay
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Thermoelectric Generators (TEG) can be used on automobiles to harvest energy from exhaust waste heat. Besides the improvement on material side, the optimization of geometry of the module is also important to maximize the output power density and will be addressed in this paper. A thermal resistance network is established based on heat conduction and radiation from heat source to heat sink. Although the heat transfer model is based on cylindrical exhaust pipe geometry, the thermo-element is approximated as plane geometry because the ceramic layer and thermoelectric layer are much smaller compared with the exhaust pipe diameter. The TE material we proposed to recover waste heat energy is magnesium silicide (Mg2Si), which has a reasonable figure of merit in the automobile exhaust temperature range, and the process is thermal spray compatible, which is a mass productive method currently under investigation. Another material that used for comparison is titanium oxide. Based on the Seebeck coefficient, thermal and electrical conductivity of our thermal sprayed samples, the thermoelectric leg length and the area ratio between thermoelectric element and total module area are optimized for maximum power density output. The optimal leg length is around 0.85mm, and the air gap is as small as possible. A parameter sensitivity analysis is conducted to investigate the influence of ceramic layer thickness, exhaust pipe radius, electrical contact resistance, hot and cold side temperature, Seebeck and electrical conductivity on the optimal leg length.
AB - Thermoelectric Generators (TEG) can be used on automobiles to harvest energy from exhaust waste heat. Besides the improvement on material side, the optimization of geometry of the module is also important to maximize the output power density and will be addressed in this paper. A thermal resistance network is established based on heat conduction and radiation from heat source to heat sink. Although the heat transfer model is based on cylindrical exhaust pipe geometry, the thermo-element is approximated as plane geometry because the ceramic layer and thermoelectric layer are much smaller compared with the exhaust pipe diameter. The TE material we proposed to recover waste heat energy is magnesium silicide (Mg2Si), which has a reasonable figure of merit in the automobile exhaust temperature range, and the process is thermal spray compatible, which is a mass productive method currently under investigation. Another material that used for comparison is titanium oxide. Based on the Seebeck coefficient, thermal and electrical conductivity of our thermal sprayed samples, the thermoelectric leg length and the area ratio between thermoelectric element and total module area are optimized for maximum power density output. The optimal leg length is around 0.85mm, and the air gap is as small as possible. A parameter sensitivity analysis is conducted to investigate the influence of ceramic layer thickness, exhaust pipe radius, electrical contact resistance, hot and cold side temperature, Seebeck and electrical conductivity on the optimal leg length.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84892649712
U2 - 10.1115/HT2012-58454
DO - 10.1115/HT2012-58454
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84892649712
SN - 9780791844779
T3 - ASME 2012 Heat Transfer Summer Conf. Collocated with the ASME 2012 Fluids Engineering Div. Summer Meeting and the ASME 2012 10th Int. Conf. on Nanochannels, Microchannels and Minichannels, HT 2012
SP - 967
EP - 972
BT - ASME 2012 Heat Transfer Summer Conf. Collocated with the ASME 2012 Fluids Engineering Div. Summer Meeting and the ASME 2012 10th Int. Conf. on Nanochannels, Microchannels and Minichannels, HT 2012
T2 - ASME 2012 Heat Transfer Summer Conference Collocated with the ASME 2012 Fluids Engineering Div. Summer Meeting and the ASME 2012 10th Int. Conf. on Nanochannels, Microchannels and Minichannels, HT 2012
Y2 - 8 July 2012 through 12 July 2012
ER -