Sae 1999-01-2564

Licensed to RMIT University Libraries
Licensed from the SAE Digital Library Copyright 2010 SAE International
E-mailing, copying and internet posting are prohibited
Downloaded Monday, December 20, 2010 6:34:38 PM
SAE TECHNICAL
PAPER SERIES 1999-01-2564
Optimized Thermal Design of Small ∆T

Thermoelectric Generators
James W. Stevens
Mississippi State Univ.
The 34th Intersociety Energy Conversion

Engineering Conference
Vancouver, British Columbia
August 2-5, 1999
400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA 15096-0001 U.S.A. Tel: (724) 776-4841 Fax: (724) 776-5760
Author:Gilligan-SID:13469-GUID:41473790-131.170.90.3
The appearance of this ISSN code at the bottom of this page indicates SAE’s consent that copies of the
paper may be made for personal or internal use of specific clients. This consent is given on the condition,
however, that the copier pay a $7.00 per article copy fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.
Operations Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 for copying beyond that permitted by Sec-
tions 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying such as
copying for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, for creating new collective works,
or for resale.
SAE routinely stocks printed papers for a period of three years following date of publication. Direct your
orders to SAE Customer Sales and Satisfaction Department.
Quantity reprint rates can be obtained from the Customer Sales and Satisfaction Department.
To request permission to reprint a technical paper or permission to use copyrighted SAE publications in
other works, contact the SAE Publications Group.
All SAE papers, standards, and selected

books are abstracted and indexed in the
Global Mobility Database
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, in an electronic retrieval system or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
ISSN 0148-7191
Copyright 1999 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.
Positions and opinions advanced in this paper are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of SAE. The author is solely
responsible for the content of the paper. A process is available by which discussions will be printed with the paper if it is published in
SAE Transactions. For permission to publish this paper in full or in part, contact the SAE Publications Group.
Persons wishing to submit papers to be considered for presentation or publication through SAE should send the manuscript or a 300
word abstract of a proposed manuscript to: Secretary, Engineering Meetings Board, SAE.
Printed in USA
1999-01-2564
Optimized Thermal Design of Small ∆T Thermoelectric

Generators
James W. Stevens
Mississippi State Univ.
Copyright © 1999 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.
ABSTRACT flow enables approximations to be used in the thermo-

electric module design that include the heat exchangers
The daily variation in air temperature is large compared in a very simple way. This paper describes a proposal for
with the temperature changes a short distance below the a ground-source thermoelectric heat engine and devel-
surface of the ground. In theory, a heat engine can be ops and illustrates a simple method for the optimal
arranged to produce electricity from this temperature dif- design of small ∆T thermoelectric generators.
ference. In practice, the thermal efficiency of such a
device will be low because of the small temperature dif- RELEVANT PRIOR WORK
ferences involved. An energy harvesting device could
produce sensor-scale amounts of electrical power by There is an abundant body of literature on thermoelectric
using a thermoelectric generator operating between the generators and applications of thermoelectric generators,
air and ground temperatures. This paper describes a pro- but the vast majority of this literature focuses on tempera-
posed ground-air thermoelectric heat engine along with a ture differences one to two orders of magnitude greater
procedure for the approximate optimal design of such a than those relevant to this work. Nevertheless, several
device. Simple design and performance equations based applications of thermoelectric generators have been
on thermal resistances of the thermoelectric module and explored for circumstances somewhat similar to those
cold- and hot-side heat exchangers are derived and pre- considered here.
sented.
Benson and Jayadev (1980) discussed the possibility of
using thermoelectric generators in very large scale instal-
INTRODUCTION lations to produce useful amounts of electricity from low
grade heat sources. Among other ideas, one possibility
Thermoelectric devices are used in a wide variety of
discussed was to use thermoelectric generators in an
applications for portable or remote power generation and
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion system. The pro-
heat pumping. Inasmuch as thermoelectric generators
posed temperature difference for that case was 5-25 °C.
function as heat engines, they are subject to the Carnot
It was shown that some commercially available thermo-
limitation on efficiency: . Hence, electric materials have a very good figure of merit in this
many applications seek higher generator efficiency by temperature range. They assumed performance of 20%
starting with large temperature differences across the of Carnot efficiency could be achieved from the thermo-
device. Nevertheless, some niche applications have been electric devices. Other potential sources of energy that
proposed which might use the comparatively small T were discussed were geothermally heated ocean water
available from waste heat or ambient sources to power a (85 °C), solar ponds (50 °C), natural lake thermoclines
thermoelectric generator producing modest amounts of (10-20 °C), and utility power plant waste heat (15 °C).
power. One such proposal would generate power from Long term capital costs were considered in the discus-
the difference between the fluctuating daily air tempera- sion.
ture and the relatively constant ground temperature. The Lemley (1980) presented an unusual application of a
relatively small temperature differences involved (∆T < thermoelectric generator designed to produce power
(10K)) dictate a small thermal efficiency for such a from the long wave infrared radiation from the surface of
device. This low thermal efficiency means that for a given the earth. The application was for a high altitude, long
thermoelectric device, the design of air-side and ground- duration communications platform. Energy would be col-
side heat exchangers will be critical to the creation of a lected by radiation from the earth, and rejected by radia-
useful generator, since a large amount of heat will be tion into space. A thin-film configuration was devised and
moved per unit of electrical power produced. However, tested. A temperature difference of 58 °C was used in the
the very small power production relative to the total heat design.
1
Benson and Tracy (1982) discussed the development of and forced convection to the air and radiation to the sur-
thin-film thermoelectric generators for use with low-grade roundings. Estimates indicate that natural convection
thermal energy applications such as those discussed in heat transfer coefficients in the range of 2-5 W/m2K may
Benson and Jayadev (1980). be expected, while a typical radiation heat transfer coeffi-
cent of 5-6 W/m2K will be available. These two mecha-
Wu (1996) analyzed the thermodynamics of a thermo-
nisms will act in parallel leading to an overall heat transfer
electric generator that would operate from industrial
coefficient for the surface of (10 W/m2K). Any forced
waste heat. A very similar analysis was performed (Wu,
convection effects that are present will act to raise the
1995) for a generator operating from a solar pond. In both
overall heat transfer coefficient.
cases, the thermodynamic efficiency and specific work
output were emphasized, and comparisons were made
with theoretical efficiencies.
Chen (1996) performed a thermodynamic analysis of a
thermoelectric generator powered by direct solar radia-
tion. Four classes of irreversibilities were identified and
their effects were included in the analysis. These irrevers-
ibilities were: finite rate heat transfer between the device
and the surroundings, heat leaks internal to the device,
Ohmic heat production, and heat losses in the solar col-
lector. The main conclusions of the analysis involved the
establishment of performance limits for solar powered
thermoelectric devices.
Henderson (1997) developed an analytical model for a
small ∆T thermoelectric generator that includes the hot
and cold side heat exchangers. The system power was
optimized using Lagrange multipliers on a system of four
non-linear equations. The solution was achieved via an
iterative approach, but no closed form solution was deter-
Figure 1. Proposed ground-source heat engine
mined. Analyses of several complete systems led to the
empirical conclusion that the total temperature difference
For the ground-side heat exchanger, the primary mode of
should be split equally between the thermoelectric mod-
heat transfer will be conduction. Neglecting contact resis-
ule and the external heat exchangers.
tance between the heat exchanger surfaces and the soil
(which may be significant) the equivalent average overall
SYSTEM CONSIDERATIONS FOR A GROUND- heat transfer coefficient between the heat exchanger and
SOURCE HEAT ENGINE the ground may be estimated to be of (10 W/m2K) as
well.
Since they function as heat engines, thermoelectric gen-
erators are limited by the Carnot efficiency. In practice, For the purposes of harvesting energy from ambient
device efficiencies are a fraction of the Carnot efficiency sources, thermoelectric generators have a number of
that depends on the absolute temperature and the ther- advantages. Since they contain no moving parts they
moelectric material characteristics. operate without acoustic emissions and with extremely
high reliability. Typical useful lifetimes of commercial
For small temperature differences between the heat devices can be of the order 104-105 hours. The relatively
source and the heat sink, the Carnot efficiency dictates a small (compared to typical thermoelectric generator con-
small upper limit for the thermal efficiency for the device. figurations) temperature differences and temperature
For temperature differences on the order of 1-10K, in the swings for this system would suggest even higher reliabil-
neighborhood of 300K, efficiencies must be significantly ity. In addition, they will generate no chemical emissions,
smaller than 3%. A conservative estimate of thermal effi- and the thermal signature will be nearly negligible. The
ciency for commercially available materials would be volumetric energy density of a thermoelectric energy har-
around 0.2% to 0.8% for temperature differences of five vesting device depends on the useful life estimate of the
to 20 K. Using this efficiency range, a power output of device, but the power density could be on the order of 10-
100mW would require a heat flow through the system of 4
W/in3 leading to an energy density estimate of 1-10 Wh/
approximately 13 to 50 W. Clearly, at this efficiency level, in3. This compares favorably with commercial alkaline
the power generation problem will be dominated by heat battery energy densities of 3-7 Wh/in3. With no moving
transfer considerations. parts, the system can be designed to be extremely rug-
A conceptual diagram of the proposed system is shown ged and insensitive to handling and transport. Since half
in figure 1. The air-side heat exchanger will be exposed the system will be underground, and the other half will
to the atmosphere and surroundings at ambient tempera- only need to be exposed to the atmosphere, the system
ture. The primary modes of heat transfer will be natural will have a relatively low visibility profile. The proposed
2
system will generate power both when the air tempera- the maximum thermal efficiency will be obtained if
ture is higher than the ground temperature, and when it is
lower than the ground temperature. Direct sunlight would
frequently be beneficial, but would not be necessary for
the system to function. Unlike fragile photovoltaic panels,
the thermoelectric couple will be sturdy by itself, and will (2)
be further protected by being completely enclosed by the
structural and heat transfer surfaces around it. The enclo- and for maximum power:
sure will also provide protection from corrosion and other
environmental effects.
(3)
In either case, the optimization of the thermoelectric
module specifies only the ratio of the aspect ratios. The
design can be completed by including the hot-side and
cold-side heat exchangers as presented below.
A simple thermal resistance model of the thermoelectric
generator system is shown in figure 3. In the case of low
∆T the amount of energy taken away as electricity may
be neglected since it will be less than one percent of the
total energy flow. Thus, QH ≈QL ≈Q. It is possible to deter-
mine the device output as a function of the air-to-ground
temperature difference which is easily estimated. This
will include within it the temperature drops through the
Figure 2. Sample air-ground temperature differences two heat exchangers. The thermal resistances for each
for Jackson, MS. heat exchanger account for all temperature change
between the reservoir temperature (TA or TG) and the
Figure 2 illustrates one estimate of potential temperature surface of the thermoelectric module.
differences available in Jackson, MS. The top half of the
figure refers to the temperature scale at the left side. The
squares represent measured air temperatures for two
weeks during the summer of 1990. The solid line is a
sinusoid that has a close fit to the measured data. The
dashed line represents the calculated temperature 5
inches underground using transport properties typical for
soil and the fitted temperature curve (solid line). The
available temperature difference is shown in the bottom
part of the figure with the scale on the right side. It can be
seen that maximum temperature differences are approxi-
mately 10 °F; alternating between positive and negative
with respect to the ground. Of course, figure 2 shows only
an illustrative example of the temperature differences; at
different times throughout the year the daily fluctuations
may be much larger, much smaller, and/or less well Figure 3. Simplified thermal resistance model of the
approximated by a sinusoid. ground-source heat engine
ANALYSIS Starting with definitions for the thermal efficiency of the

thermoelectric module, and the Carnot efficiency for the
It can be shown, (Angrist, 1976, for example) that starting module:
from an expression for the thermal efficiency of a thermo-
electric module:
(4)
(1)
(5)
3
A second law efficiency can be defined as the ratio of the

module efficiency to its Carnot efficiency:
(6)
It can be shown that to a first order approximation this
ratio is relatively constant over a small temperature
range. This expression can be re-arranged:
(7)
From the definition of thermal resistance:
Figure 4. Variation in power output for constant internal
thermal resistance.
(8)
and:
(9)
where Σ=RA+RG. That is, Σ accounts for all thermal resis-
tance (hot-side and cold-side) external to the thermoelec-
tric module, while Ri represents the thermal resistance
internal to the thermoelectric module. Finally, combining
equations (7), (8), and (9) to eliminate ∆TTE and Q:
(10)
Figure 5. Variation in power output for constant external
For small ∆TAG, TH ≈T=(TA+TG)/2. This expression gives thermal resistance.
the power output of the thermoelectric module in terms of
the air and ground temperatures, the thermal resis- Figure 5 shows the variation in power as a function of Ri
tances, and the second law efficiency. It shows that the with everything else held constant. In this case there is a
power output is proportional to the second law efficiency, maximum in the power generation for the complete sys-
inversely proportional to the absolute temperature, and tem. This maximum occurs because at high Ri, too little
proportional to the square of the reservoir temperature heat can flow through the system, while at low Ri, there is
difference. Only the sum of the thermal resistances (hot- only a small temperature drop across the thermoelectric
side and cold-side) is important, not their individual sizes. module. By taking the derivative of power with respect to
Further examination of the effect of thermal resistances Ri and setting it equal to zero, it can be shown that the
is illustrated in figures 4 and 5. Figure 4 shows the power maximum in power occurs when R i=Σ :
output as a function of external thermal resistance if
everything else is held constant. As might be expected,
the power output increases monotonically with decreas-
ing external thermal resistance. With no external thermal
resistance, the device operates as it would with both sur- (11)
faces of the thermoelectric module held at the reservoir
This matches the conclusion arrived at empirically by
temperatures.
Henderson (1979) after repeated analyses with a more
exact and more complex optimization and numerical eval-
uation procedure.
4
This result now provides the necessary information to

complete the design of the thermoelectric module. The (18)
internal thermal resistance of the thermoelectric module
can be expressed as: Assuming that all thermoelectric module legs have equal
length:
(12)
This expression can be combined with equation (2) or (3) (19)
to solve for the aspect ratios of the two thermoelectric and the geometry has been fully specified.
materials, γn and γp. For example, combining equation (2)
with equation (12) yields:
SUMMARY
A proposal for a ground-source thermoelectric generator

has been described. Advantages and limitations of the
proposed system were identified. A simple, approximate
procedure for the geometric design of the thermoelectric
(13) module applicable to thermoelectric generators with
and small ∆T has been developed and described.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Defense Advanced

Research Projects Agency and the Army Research
(14)
Office Grant No. DAAG55-98-1-0307.
For the case of maximum power density, a similar proce-
dure could be used with equation (12) and equation (3). REFERENCES
The system design would proceed as follows:
1. Angrist, S.W., 1976, Direct Energy Conversion, 3rd
For a specified power requirement, operating condition, ed.; Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA.
and thermoelectric material, the optimum internal and 2. Benson, D.K. and Jayadev, T.S., 1980, "Thermoelec-
external thermal resistance can be determined from tric Energy Conversion, Economical Electric Power
equation (10) rearranged here: from Low Grade Heat," Proceedings of the Third
International Conference on Thermoelectric Energy
Conversion, Arlington, TX, March 12-14, 1980, publ.
by IEEE, New York, NY, pp. 27-56.
(15) 3. Benson, D.K. and Tracy, C.E., 1982, "Design and
Fabrication of Thin Film Thermoelectric Generators,"
The aspect ratios, γp and γn, can be determined from Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference
equations (13) and (14). From heat transfer analysis of on Thermoelectric Energy Conversion, Arlington, TX,
the the air-side and ground-side heat exchangers, overall March 10-12, 1982, publ. by IEEE, New York, NY, pp.
heat transfer coefficients, UA and UG can be determined. 11-14.
From the definition of thermal resistance: 4. Chen, J., 1996, "Thermodynamic Analysis of a
Solar-driven Thermoelectric Generator," Journal of
Applied Physics, v 79 n 5, pp. 2717-2721.
5. Henderson, J., 1979, “Analysis of a Heat Exchanger-
(16) Thermoelectric Generator System,” Proceedings of
the 14th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering
This can be rearranged to solve for the face area of the Conference, Boston, MA, Aug 5-10, 1979, V. 2, pp.
thermoelectric module: 1835-1840.
6. Lemley, L.W., 1980, "A Radiation Thermoelectric
Power Converter," Proceedings of the Third Interna-
tional Conference on Thermoelectric Energy Conver-
sion, Arlington, TX, March 12-14, 1980, publ. by
(17) IEEE, New York, NY, pp. 20-26.
Since the thermoelectric material does not completely 7. Wu, C., 1995, "Performance of Solar-pond Thermo-
cover the module faces, the face area is related to the electric Power Generators," International Journal of
thermoelectric material cross-sectional area by a cover- Ambient Energy, v 16 n 2, pp. 59-66.
age factor, f:
5
8. Wu, C., 1996, "Analysis of Waste-heat Thermoelec-

tric Power Generators," Applied Thermal Engineer-
ing, v 16 n 1, pp. 63-69.
CONTACT
James W. Stevens
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Mississippi State University
210 Carpenter Bldg.
PO Box ME
Mississippi State, MS 39762
phone: (601) 325-8231 / fax: (601) 325-7223
email: Stevens@ME.MsState.Edu
NOMENCLATURE
α: Seebeck coefficient for a junction

γn, γ p: thermoelectric leg aspect ratio, An/l or Ap/l
ηC: Carnot efficiency
ηt: thermal efficiency
ηTE: thermal efficiency of the thermoelectric module
ρn, ρp: electrical resistivity of each thermoelectric mate-
rial
Σ: sum of external thermal resistances: RA+RG
A: face area of the thermoelectric module
An,Ap: thermoelectric material leg cross-sectional area
f: ratio of thermoelectric material cross-section to total
face area: A/(An+Ap)
I: current
K: overall thermal conductance
kn,kp: thermal conductivity of each thermoelectric mate-
rial
: thermoelectric material leg length
Q: heat flow
RA,RG: thermal resistances of the air-side and ground-
side heat exchangers
Re: internal electrical resistance
Re,o: external electrical resistance
RI: thermal resistance internal to the thermoelectric mod-
ule
TH: hot-side temperature
UA,UG: overall heat transfer coefficients of air-side and
ground-side heat exchangers
: power output
6

Sae 1999-01-2564

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sae 1999-01-2564

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Licensed to RMIT University Libraries

Optimized Thermal Design of Small ∆T

The 34th Intersociety Energy Conversion

All SAE papers, standards, and selected

Optimized Thermal Design of Small ∆T Thermoelectric

Copyright © 1999 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.

ABSTRACT flow enables approximations to be used in the thermo-

ANALYSIS Starting with definitions for the thermal efficiency of the

A second law efficiency can be defined as the ratio of the

This result now provides the necessary information to

A proposal for a ground-source thermoelectric generator

This work was supported by the Defense Advanced

8. Wu, C., 1996, "Analysis of Waste-heat Thermoelec-

α: Seebeck coefficient for a junction

You might also like