International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

Thermal presentation of Two-Phase congested

Thermosyphon in submission of determined
Thermoelectric dominance producer by means of Phase
Change Material Thermal Storage
R N.Vikneswaran
K.Arumuganainar,
Dr. A.Pasupathy ,
Prof. , Ponjesly College of Engineering ,
Asst.prof. ,Ponjesly college of engineering
Vice Principal
Nagercoil ,
Bharathidasan Engineering College
Nagercoil ,
nanjilvikneswaran@gmail.com
Nattrampalli, Krishnagiri .
ABSTRACT
With the growing energy command due to growing world people and industrialization, utilizing
strenuous solar energy for thermal and electrical power production will be the future renewable power
source to decrease the confidence on fossil fuel and reduce carbon dioxide discharge. Besides by
means of determined Photovoltaic (CPV) system, Concentrated Thermoelectric generator (CTEG) will be
another possible option for sustainable power generation. The CTEG system utilizes concentrated solar flux
as a heat
source to the thermoelectric generating (TEG) module in generating direct current thermoelectricity which
can be easily converted to alternating power using an inverter. By maintaining a temperature difference
between the hot and cold sides of the thermoelectric cells (Seebeck effect), thermoelectricity is generated
where its magnitude is a function of temperature difference. The main challenge is the effectiveness of
excess heat removal which accumulated at the cold side of the thermoelectric cell to achieve greater power
generation. Using acting cooling mechanisms are not energy efficient proposal as it requires power in
operating them and significantly reduces the total power output generated. They are planned in the paper
for working CTEG system through passive cooling and achieving invariable cooling. Two-phase closed
thermosyphon is implement as an helpful heat transporting device for transfer excess heat from heated
TEG part to the frozen PCM storeroom reservoir for heat luggage compartment. This investigation is to
evaluate the thermal presentation of the proposed system.. The working fluid used in the thermosyphon
was Acetone and its filling ratio was designated at 40% of the evaporator volume. Paraffin wax was
selected as PCM with melting point of 47oC and acceptably high latent heat storage was selected in the
thermal storage. The passive cooling mechanisms consist of PCM storage tank, heat pipe-based heat
transfer system for transporting heat from TEG modules to the PCM thermal storage during the daytime and
a similar heat pipe-based system for discharging heat from PCM storage tank to the cooler ambient during
the night time.
Keywords: two-segment blocked thermosyphon,
compartment, paraffin wax

thermoelectric generator, thermal luggage

difference for higher power generation. Active

cooling methods such as using electric fan and
water pump would seen to be good thermal
management solutions where they have gain
reputation in electronic cool with superior thermal
control. Hence, passive cooling approaches
would seem to be more reliable method for a
sustainable power generator in spite of
the
lower cooling rate. Problem arises on passive
cooling devices are incredibly

1. PREFACE
Thermoelectric originator (TEG) is a sole
position electrical command generator where it
require a heat difference across the warm and
freezing side of the thermoelectric chamber
Concentrated thermoelectric
generator
(CTEG) system uses concentrated solar energy
as a sustainable heat source and obtains high
solar heat flux to increase the TEC hot side
temperature. The waste heat at the cold side of
the TECs must be effectively dissipated
to
achieve greater temperature

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

(secondary) is entrenched in the PCM

storage. Passive cooling cycle in this concept
design is formulated through repetitive heat
charging and discharging of the PCM thermal
storage where TPCTs play important roles for
effective heat moving and rakishness.

on the ambient situation and distinction. Weather

fluctuations such as wind speed and surrounding
temperature can significantly affect the natural
convection heat transfer performance and pose a
limitation on the passive cooling of concentrate
solar applications. The core brave in this
proposition is the requirement of effective heat
transfer , where it can transport large amount of
heat over a certain distance within the system.

external planetary emission

In this research, two-stage closed thermosyphons

are implement to the proposed passive TPCTs are
utilized in the system where two of them
(primary) are used for transferring heat from the
TEG module to the PCM storage tank for heat
absorption during the day, the third TCPT
cooling system using PCM thermal luggage
compartment. The objective of TPCT is to
dissipate large amount of excess heat
accumulated on the cold side of TEC to the
PCM thermal storage which avoid cell
damage and attain greater temperature difference.
The aim of this study is to assess the thermal
performance of the concentrated thermoelectric
generator (TEG-PCM) arrangement with TPCT as
heat transport device. Maximum temperature
difference across the TEG must not exceed the
Max. in service cell temperature of 250oC.

Heat receiver
TEG hot
space
Electrical
conductor

Ceramic
plate
Cold space

Heat sink
(TPCT)

Heat
flow

RLoad

Figure 2. TEG component and warm low.

Figure . 2 shows the TEG component where
the incoming heat basis is deliver by the
rigorous solar fluctuation via Fresnel lens
concentrator. Copper is used for heat aerial and
heat descend due to the high thermal conductivity
and high corrosive resistance.
Both
copper
blocks are used to sandwich the thermoelectric
cell (TEC) to provide a temperature difference
through the TECs top panel
heating and
bottom
panel
cooling
for fulfilling the
thermoelectricity generation criteria. Two TPCTs
with evaporator sections (Outer diameter =
15.9mm) are thermally inserted into copper heat
descend for transportation heat to the PCM
storage tank during day time operation

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN
In this here devise shows in Figure 1, two
TPCTs or wickless type of heat pipe be
implemented in this system. To transfer large
quantity of heat with a small temperature drop
that made it favorable as a heat transporting
device in this proposed passive cooling concept.
Primary TPCT

Secondary
TPCT
PCM Storage
tank
Fresnel lens
Concentrator
TEG

Figure 1. Schematic TPCT-PCM cooling

system.

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

thermal conductivity which may affect the heat

exchanging routine by the thermosyphon
condenser section.
Approach taken for
humanizing the PCM melting is by using long
TPCT condenser section
incorporating
aluminum fin attachments for providing a
larger heat transfer surface area to improve
the effective thermal conductivity within the
PCM storage.. In addition, PCM storage tank is
also required to be elevated above the TEG
module to ensure the TPCT condenser.

Heat source
(TEC hot side)

TEC
(White layer)

Heat sink-TPCT
(TEC cold side)

2.
THERMAL PERFORMANCE
MODELING

Figure 3. TEG module on the experimental

prototype using heater as a heat source.

2.1. Energy Balance Analysis

As mentioned earlier, one TPCT with

evaporator section embedded in the PCM for
removing the heat which stored in the melted
PCM to the cooler surrounding during the night. It
also acts as a thermal diode and is able to reject
heat when the PCM temperature reaches its
working fluid saturation temperature.

The liveliness balance equation

CTEG-PCM system is given by:

for

the
(1)

Insulated tank wall

Heat
transfer to
PCM tank
via
primary
TPCT
condenser

efficiency
of
Fresnel
lens
concentrator and the absorptive of the copper
heat collector are assumed as concentrated
heating power governed by solar concentration
ratio (CR) on heat collector is written as:

Heat
dissipation
to ambient
via
secondary
TPCT
evaporator

(2)

Figure 4. TPCT condensers (Finned) embedded

in PCM storage tank.
The PCM used in the thermal storage tank is
paraffin wax. It is non-corrosive, readily
off-the-shelves and has relatively high latent heat
storage capacity (140kJ/kg) which make it
attractive to be used in the thermal storage.
Further information on the thermo-physical
properties of the proposed paraffin wax are
showed in table 1.

(3)
(4)

The statement complete for heat fatalities to the

neighboring by the copper absorber shield
is through convection and radiation heat
transfer under the ambient conditions of wind
speed
of 2m/s and ambient temperature
o
at 20 C.

Table 2. Thermo-physical properties of

proposed paraffin wax.
Description
Melting temperature [o C]
Solid density [kg/m3]
Liquid density [kg/m3]
Latent heat capacity [kJ/kg]
Specific heat capacity [kJ/kg K]
(Solid/liquid)
Thermal conductivity [W/m K]

Value
47
880
760
140
2.9/2.2
0.2

It is renowned that Paraffin shine (PCM) has little

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

2.2. Thermoelectric Generator Module

Strenuous solar

Bismuth Telluride (Bi2Te3) which is widely

used as thermoelectric units. Two of the
mentioned TECs with dimensions of 40mm
(length) x 40mm (width) x 4mm (height) were
electrically connected in series arrangement. The
thermal resistance for single TEC of 0.75oC/W is
determined through experiment test.

Heat collector
TEG module
Heat sink

The thermal resistances for copper heat

collector and heat spreader have similar in contact
area as TECs:

Working fluid
TPCT wall
Heat sink

(8)

Figure 55. Thermal fighting network

diagram for TEG to TPCT.

The thermal resistance for TEG:

(9)

Adiabatic tank wall

Fin

PCM

2.3. Two-Phase Closed Thermosyphon

Only two thermosyphons were used

in the prototype for examine
the passive
cooling concept.
For
validating
the
experiment results, the structure

TPCT wall
Working fluid
TPCT wall

of this modeling will solely base on thermal

performance of one primary TPCT. In the scope of
this study on cooling performance, secondary
TPCT embedded in the PCM storage tank will not
be included in the model.

Figure 6. Thermal resistance networks

figure for TPCT to PCM thermal storage
space

Primary
TPCT

Figure v and vi presented the lump thermal

resistance networks diagram for the overall
TEG-PCM system. As PCM undergo phase
change upon reaching its melting point, the heat
capacity will vary with the temperature increment.
Hence, finite difference method will be
solving the
temperature-dependent equations.

Secondary
TPCT
PCM storage tank

Figure 7. indication of TEC-PCM

arrangement

(5)

Thermal confrontation for the barrier of thermosyphon:

The thermal resistance of TPCT wall is a function of

TPCTs sectional length and pipe thickness.

The system heat transfer equation is given by:

(6)

Evaporator division:

where
(10)
Condenser section:
(11)

(7)
Heat transfer inside TPCT:

The selected working fluid is Acetone. It has

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

lesser boiling point (52oC) at atmospheric pressure

and
embryonic heat of vaporization of
512kJ/kg.The chosen inundated temperature for
the cooling structure is 55oC.

(18)
Liquid Phase:

Evaporator division
:

(19)
(12)

3.

NUMERICAL RESULTS

The mathematical models for the system

had
been completely
developed
in
ANSYIS indoctrination software. The numerical
results simulated the thermal performance of
CTEG-PCM prototype under experimental
situation. unusual solar concentration will be
simulated to determine the optimum absorption for
delivering the maximum TEC temperature
difference.

Condenser section:
(13)

The heat remove coefficient within the TPCT is

unspecified under the effective condition where
only lowest amount fill volume of the
functioning fluid is required for maintaining
liquid film on the wall. The cut down average
heat transfer coefficients for both evaporator
and condenser section are given by the Nusselt
study
Evaporator
division:

TEG
Temperature
Difference

(14)
Condenser section:
(15)

Paraffin wax is noted that conduction

heat transfer will gradually diminish as natural
convection heat transfer grow rapidly during
liquid state transition. For modeling
simplification, only pure conduction is assumed
throughout the phase changing process. The
thermal resistance for solid PCM within the
aluminum fin gap is given by:

Figure 8. Thermal performance of

CTEG-PCM system (CR = 75).
Figure 7 shows the overall thermal
presentation of system under 82 suns over
1700s (30mins) duration. The maximum TEC
hot side temperature in the TEG module reach
238oC where the maximum temperature limit
optional by TEC producer is 250oC. Hence
the maximum solar concentration (CR) for this
configuration is 75 which the aperture
diameter of the Fresnel lens should be sized at
560mm. The TEC cold side temperature has
maintained at 88oC and attained a constant TEC
temperature difference of 152oC over the
period. Both temperature on the TEC hot and cold
side
decrease
rapidly
when
the evaporator temperature reaches
the saturation temperature (60oC) of the
working fluid in the TPCT. The significant
drop at the TEC cold side shows that waste heat
had effectively transferred from the evaporator
section to the condensation section embedded in
the PCM thermal storage for heat

(16)

The latent heat fusion (H = 140kJ/kg) of PCM

must be accounted for at the melting point (Tmelt =
47oC). The conditional governing equations for
heat luggage compartment in the thermal storage
are given as:
Solid phase:
(17)
Solid-liquid Phase:

ISBN 978-93-80609-17-1
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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

TEC hot side panel temperature will exceed

the maximum operating temperature. Using
working fluid with lesser saturation temperature
and higher latent heat of vaporization in TPCT
can further attain greater temperature difference
for higher thermoelectric power output.

dissipation. The debauched heat was captivated

by the Phase change material as reasonable heat
before 180 seconds and thereafter latent heat
absorption upon reaching the melting point
(47oC). The PCM temperatures located at 10mm
and 50mm above the TPCT condenser were
selected to capture melting performance during
heat absorption. T9 rised gradually and latter
become plateau due to the latent heat of
fusion. T10 was untouched during the period of
30 minutes due to the
poor
thermal

4. CONCLUSION
In this Research, the thermal presentation of
the concentrated thermoelectric generator
utilizing two phase close thermosyphon as heat
transfer
device
has
been
investigate
mathematically. Some conclusions are drawn as
follows:
TPCT has exposed to be an useful heat
transporting machine due to simple structural
creation and it can be without problems bent to
fit and join between the CTEG structure and
PCM thermal storage.
The reproduction had shown that using inactive
devices; TPCT and phase change material
thermal storage are able
to maintain a
temperature difference of
152oC and produce 9.5W of thermoelectric
power.

100
80
60

East

40

West

20

North

0
1st Qtr

2nd Qtr

3rd Qtr

4th Qtr

conductivity.
CR = 75 (Pmax = 9.1W)
CR = 58(Pmax = 5.8 W)
CR = 43 (Pmax = 3.2W)
CR = 27 (Pmax = 1.3W)

REFERENCES
CR = 12 (Pmax = 0.3W)

[1] Faghri A., Heat pipe science and

technology. USA, Braun-Brumfield Inc.,
1995.
[2]

Figure 9. Temperature differentiation and

power production for 2 TECs under various
solar concentrations.

Holman J.P., Heat Transfer. 9th ed., New

York: Von Hoffman Press Inc., 2002.

[3] McAdam, W.H., Heat Transmission.3rd

editions, USA, McGraw-Hill Book
Company. 1954.

The thermoelectric cells in the TEG component

are made of Bismuth Telluride (Bi2Te3) which
has high Seebeck coefficient and high figure of
merit. The maximum theoretical influence output
was 9.2W under maximum temperature difference
of 150o C. Further temperature dissimilarity cannot
be achieved in the existing configuration as the

[4] Slack G.A., New materials and

performance limits for TE cooling. In:
Rowe D.M., editor. CRC Handbook on
Thermoelectrics. CRC Press; 1994.

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