TY - JOUR
T1 - Performance of a composite thermoelectric generator with different arrangements of SiGe, BiTe and PbTe under different configurations
AU - Vargas-Almeida, Alexander
AU - Olivares-Robles, Miguel Angel
AU - Lavielle, Federico Méndez
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 by the authors.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - In this study, we analyze the role of the thermoelectric (TE) properties, namely Seebeck coefficient , thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity , of three different materials in a composite thermoelectric generator (CTEG) under different configurations. The CTEG is composed of three thermoelectric modules (TEMs): (1) two TEMs thermally and electrically connected in series (SC); (2) two branches of TEMs thermally and electrically connected in parallel (PSC); and (3) three TEMs thermally and electrically connected in parallel (TEP). In general, each of the TEMs have different thermoelectric parameters, namely a Seebeck coefficient α, a thermal conductance K and an electrical resistance R. Following the framework proposed recently, we show the effect of: (1) the configuration; and (2) the arrangements of TE materials on the corresponding equivalent figure of merit Zeq and consequently on the maximum power Pmax and efficiency η of the CTEG. Firstly, we consider that the whole system is formed of the same thermoelectric material (α1, K1, R1 = α2, K2, R2 = α3, K3, R3) and, secondly, that the whole system is constituted by only two different thermoelectric materials (αi, Ki, Ri = αj, Kj, Rj ≠ αl, Kl, Rl, where i; j; l can be 1, 2 or 3). In this work, we propose arrangements of TEMs, which clearly have the advantage of a higher thermoelectric figure of merit value compared to a conventional thermoelectric module. A corollary about the Zeq max for CTEG is obtained as a result of these considerations. We suggest an optimum configuration.
AB - In this study, we analyze the role of the thermoelectric (TE) properties, namely Seebeck coefficient , thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity , of three different materials in a composite thermoelectric generator (CTEG) under different configurations. The CTEG is composed of three thermoelectric modules (TEMs): (1) two TEMs thermally and electrically connected in series (SC); (2) two branches of TEMs thermally and electrically connected in parallel (PSC); and (3) three TEMs thermally and electrically connected in parallel (TEP). In general, each of the TEMs have different thermoelectric parameters, namely a Seebeck coefficient α, a thermal conductance K and an electrical resistance R. Following the framework proposed recently, we show the effect of: (1) the configuration; and (2) the arrangements of TE materials on the corresponding equivalent figure of merit Zeq and consequently on the maximum power Pmax and efficiency η of the CTEG. Firstly, we consider that the whole system is formed of the same thermoelectric material (α1, K1, R1 = α2, K2, R2 = α3, K3, R3) and, secondly, that the whole system is constituted by only two different thermoelectric materials (αi, Ki, Ri = αj, Kj, Rj ≠ αl, Kl, Rl, where i; j; l can be 1, 2 or 3). In this work, we propose arrangements of TEMs, which clearly have the advantage of a higher thermoelectric figure of merit value compared to a conventional thermoelectric module. A corollary about the Zeq max for CTEG is obtained as a result of these considerations. We suggest an optimum configuration.
KW - Figure of merit
KW - Thermoelectric module
KW - Thermoelectric properties
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84951985126&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/e17117387
DO - 10.3390/e17117387
M3 - Artículo
SN - 1099-4300
VL - 17
SP - 7384
EP - 7405
JO - Entropy
JF - Entropy
IS - 11
ER -