Characteristic of Maximum Power with Temperature Difference for Thermoelectric Generator

B.C. Woo,D.Y.Lee,H. W.Leeand1. J. Kim

Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute

28-1 Sungju-dong, Changwon, Korea
E-mail : bcwoo@keri.re.kr. Fax : 82-55-280-1590

material of TEG was used because of good properties for heat

Abstract
transfer and manufacturing. The aluminum container was
This paper is associated with the manufacture of
produced using the cold extrusion method. However, it was
thermoelectric generator(TEG) and the characteristic of TEG.
difficult to accomplish a uniform thickness and suitable
TEG was consisted of water heater, pump, 32 thermoelectric roughness. Therefore, to control a precise dimension
modules and aluminum, and was flowed by hot and cold
86~23~350(mrn), an additional milling and polishing process
water through the aluminum containers. It was found that the
were occurred. 16 Thermoelectric modules were located
electric power was increased with increasing the temperature
between the two containers with a constant pressure, and a
difference(LI T) in the range between 20-50K. The electric thin layer of thermal grease KS-612, which commercially
efficiency took a maximum values, 1.04% for LI T=50K. provided from Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., was also used to
On the other hand, these electric behaviors could be improve thermal conductivity and surface roughness between
calculated with the function of temperature difference and the the aluminum container and the thermoelectric modules. The
electric current. This simulation may be useful to estimate the key joints were processed both sides of Al containers to
capacity of TEG and to develop a thermoelectric generation protect the extension of the containers due to thermal
system which converts unused energy from close-at-hand expansion.
sources such as garbage incineration heat and industrial The configuration of the thermoelectric generator is shown
exhaust etc. into electricity. in Fig. 1. and was composed of 32 thermoelectric modules.
The TEG was composed of series-type electrically, and
Introduction
parrel-type thermally, and an individual thermoelectric
Generally speaking, thermoelectricity is fundamental to module was composed of 254 elements of n and p-type
thermocoupling and in particular the t'F type exhibits an semiconductors.
excellent response, however, it is expensive. Although its
measuring voltage is low, 104-10-5Volt per Kelvin, it is
usually used to measure temperature because the variation is
stable. Seebecks effect generates an elevated voltage with a
differential temperature between two points. A thermoelectric
refrigerator and TEG were manufactured by means of
amplifymg low voltage. The thermoelectric effect was
originally identified in 1821 in Germany by Seebeck using
copper-bismuth and a bismuth-antimony. He found that the
magnetic properties slowly changed when one of the
junctions was heated.
This paper is associated with possibility of a
commercially available thermoelectric generator for waster
heat recovery. The test facility consists of water heater, pump, Fig. 1 Configuration of aluminum containers and
thermoelectric module and aluminum containers. Hot and thermoelectric modules.
cold water are used as heat source and sink fluids. This paper
is consisted of two parts. The first is the manufacturing Hot and cold water was used a heat source and sink fluids.
process of thermoelectric generator composed of 32 It was designed that hot water flowed through the center
thermoelectric modules. The other is the characteristics of container and cold water flowed through both ends of
thermoelectric generator. The electric power and current were containers, respectively.
measured by flowing hot and cold water through Al
containers. These electric behaviors were also examined with
Characteristicof Thermoelectric Generator
the function of temperature difference.
In the thermoelectric generator, the temperature
Manufacturing of Thermoelectric Generator differences between hot and cold water were measured. The
A series-type generator was fabricated by using to generate
hot water was warmed up to 9 5 C , whereas the cold water
an electric voltage Bithmus-Tellurium thermoelectric
materials. A 6061 type aluminum alloy as a container *
was controlled at a constant temperature within IC of the

02001 IEEE
0-7803-5908-9/00/$10.00 43 1 20th International Conference on Thermoelectrics (2001)
limit at 20C. The shape of the inside of the module was a
series-type with several materials. Fig. 2 shows that the
generated voltages changed almost linearly based on a
function of the temperature difference between the hot and
cold water.
The Seebeck coefficients of the thermoelectric materials
used in this experiment were 2.3~10-3VKand the variation
of the generated voltage as a function of the temperature
difference between the hot and cold water can be defined by
the following equation( 1)
V = 0.846-1- 1.536 AT
generator with 32 modules. In Fig. 3, an electric power of
1OW was generated with a current of 2A.
Fig. 4 presents the relation between electric voltage and
current shown in Fig. 3 and indicated in a straight line. The
linear relationships were obtained for each temperature
difference and could be expressed with followed equation.
V=a+bI
a= -0.0056 + 0.36101 AT
b= -3.8675 - 0.01650 AT
(1)

where V is the electric voltage(V) and A T is the

temperature difference between the hot and cold water.

1 ' " " " " ' l

Fig. 4 The relation between electric voltage and current.

V = 0.846 + 7.536AT

204 , . , . , . , . , .
M P 40 50 so m
DMemntial temperaturepC)
- 42

Fig.2 The relation between electric voltage and temperatures

difference for serial connecting of 32 modules
- 4.4

- 4.6

b = -3.8615 - 0.01650 AT
T 4.8
2 0 2 5 3 0 3 5 4 0 4 5 5 0
Temperaturedifference(K)

Fig. 5 The relation between numbers and temperature

difference

0 1 2 i where V is the electric voltage(V), I is electric current(A),

Ekctric current (A) a, b is constant numbers and A T is the temperature
Fig. 3 The relation between electric power and current with difference between the hot and cold water.
varying temperature differences. As shown in Fig. 5, a, b equations can be also plotted at a
function of temperature difference. This result suggests that,
The falloff of the generated voltage at the thermoelectric when the temperature differences were given without
generator was caused by thermal resistance which occurred variation of the amount of flowing hot and cold water, the
during the assembling and soldering process on each layer. maximum power of thermoelectric generator can be
The values of the falloff were about 10%at the thermoelectric expressed as a function of temperature difference. The
module and about 25% at the thermoelectric generator maximum power can also calculated with voltage and current,
Fig. 3 presents the results of the variation in the so that the characteristic of thermoelectric generator may be
generated power relative to the external load at thermoelectric represented as a function of temperature difference and
current, that is, as parabolic relationship of current.
432 20th International Conference on Thermoelectrics (2001)
 Fig. 6 shows the relation between the electric power and from increased electric resistance of thermoelectric materials
current calculated by using a, b equations mentioned above. with increasing temperature.
The calculated results are similar with that of Fig. 3. In the Fig. 8 shows the variation between the electric efficiency
figure, we can estimate that the maximum power, 60W. will and electric current for each temperature difference, 20-50K.
be obtained in the case of AT= 100K. The higher electric efficiency was obtained with increasing
Fig. 7 indicates the relation between electric currents temperature difference, and the highest electric efficiency was
obtained at each maximum powers in Fig. 6 and temperature 1.04%. It can be also seen from the figure that the electric
difference. current, which obtained at maximum electric efficiency, was
increased with increasing temperature difference. However,
these currents took the lower values compared with the loss
caused by the resistance of thermoelectric module. On the
S" other hand, although the electric efficiency in this study was
lower value than that of Altec Co., 4%, it is noteworthy that
$40
:AT-K
%
U 30
-0-
: AT=XIK
t: A T a K
the electric efficiency is good value as the thermoelectric
generator using hot and cold water.
'c
E
--t : AT=7OK
s20 + : AT=8oK
i3
10

0
1 2 3 4 5

Elecm'c cuwenf (A)

Fig. 6 Simulation result between electric power and current

with varying A T

From these results, the maximum power can be arranged

with temperature difference, and represents as followed
equation.
P, = b12 + a I
= B(0.447+0.029 A n2
+ a (0.447+0.029 A T) (3)
Fig. 8 Relation between electric conversion efficiency and
electric current with temperature difference
where a = -0.0056+0.36101 AT, b= -3.8675 -0.0165 A T,
P,=maximum p o w e r 0 and I= current(A). Conclusion
In this study, we described a manufacturing process and
investigated the properties of thermoelectric generator and
the simulation of the electric behaviors using the temperature
difference. The results were obtained as followed;
(1) Thermoelectric generator was consisted of water heater,
pump, aluminum containers and 32 thermoelectric modules
with Bi-Te thermoelectric materials.
(2) This TEG generated voltages with varying the
temperature difference and the relation of between the
voltages and temperature differences was as next equation.
V = 0.846+ 1.536 A T
.-
U

c 1.0 (3) It was found that the electric power was increased with
.ii
kl
io. j,. o; ' I
& ' A . io ' A . 1;lo'llO
increasing the temperature difference in the range between 20
Temperature difference(KJ
-50K and the highest efficiency was 1.04% for A T=50.
(4) The parabolic relationship between electric power and
Fig. 7 Simulation result between electric current and temperature difference could be analogized as a function of
temperature difference temperature difference.
References
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each constant are determined for given temperature difference.
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433 20th International Conference on Thermoelectrics (2001)
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434 20th International Conference on Thermoelectrics (2001)