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Expanding the reduced‐current approach for thermoelectric generators to achieve higher volumetric power density
Author(s) -
Wijesekara Waruna,
Rosendahl Lasse
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201431335
Subject(s) - thermoelectric generator , current (fluid) , thermoelectric effect , thermoelectric materials , generator (circuit theory) , power density , power (physics) , current density , materials science , electrical engineering , electricity generation , seebeck coefficient , engineering physics , computer science , mechanical engineering , engineering , physics , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics
Thermoelectrics are candidate niche electrical generator devices for energy management. At present, scientists are more focused on thermoelectric (TE) material development, but the TE module design procedure is still in a relatively virgin state. One of the most well‐known methods is the reduced current approach (RCA) for TE module design, where the same current is induced through the p and n legs of the thermoelectric generator (TEG). The current density of each element is manipulated by changing the area of both legs. This technique leads to a TE module architecture based on the most efficient configuration of both p and n legs. In the current paper, we apply an extended version of this technique, to show how a TE module with a higher volumetric power density can be designed, compared to the original RCA. Our studies indicate that for some combinations of p and n material properties, optima yielding significant material savings without compromising power output can be determined. The current study has been directed towards obtaining high power output from high‐temperature TEGs, rather than focusing on efficiency enhancement.