The thermoelectric analysis of different heat flux conduction materials for power generation board

Abstract

The development of the thermoelectric (TE) power generation is rapid, and the applications have extensively been studied. The principle is based on the Seebeck effect, in which the temperature difference between hot and cold sides of the TE material converts to electrical energy. In this paper, a design is proposed to convert the thermal energy between indoor and outdoor of a board to electrical energy by the thermoelectric generator (TEG). Furthermore, the electrical energy generated is charged to supercapacitors as a battery or a power supply to the loads (e.g., lights) of the house. Besides the experimental work, a thermal model and an electrical model of the TEG have been proposed. To study the power generation performance in terms of materials, the simulation of the conversion efficiency of the TE board using materials with different thermal conductance have also been conducted. It was found that, using graphene as the thermally conductive material, the conversion efficiency was enhanced by 1.6% and 1.7%, when the temperature difference was 15°C and 40°C, respectively.