Research On The System Of High-intensity Internal Thermoelectric Generator Used In Vehicle

With the global industrialization, environmental degradation and energy crisis is threatening the stability of human development, energy conservation is becoming an important trend in industrial development, but also ease the energy problem and the objective requirements of the environment. As a large energy consumption industry, energy saving of automotive is very important. Since 1970s, foreign scholars put forward a theory that vehicle engine exhaust gas energy can be reclaimed by semiconductor thermoelectric generator. It can translate heat into electricity directly, which can be used in vehicle and improve energy efficiency. But its low conversion efficiency and non-compact structure affect its engineering applications.To promote the application of thermoelectric generator, it must have a large thermoelectric power output and high energy density. In this paper, these two points on a new built-in and high-intensity thermoelectric generation system has been studied, based on the principle of heat transfer enhancement, a number of key technologies about thermoelectric generator has been discussed, such as, virtual structure design, mathematical modeling, numerical analysis of flow and heat transfer,, and so on.This paper has preceded mainly the several steps as follows:1. Introduced the history of thermoelectricity, the current research status and future development directions. Discussed the factors which affect thermoelectric generator's efficiency, those can offer theoretical support for structural design and optimization.2. Through the relevant experiment on experimental vehicle, some work environment parameters of the thermoelectric generator has been measured, such as engine exhaust pipe pressure and temperature, cooling system's water temperature. This would provide parameters of the boundary conditions in the simulation.3. Some improved design has been done on the cooler structure of thermoelectric generator, namely, fins were add to the cylindrical thermoelectric material to enhance cold fluid turbulence intensity and increase the average heat transfer coefficient. This would make cooler in line with the requirements of heat transfer enhancement.4. Complete heat-transfer character simulation of cooler with FLUENT, and the result shows that, compared with unimproved cooler structure, the average heat transfer coefficient of improved cooler with 6 fins increases about 9%,while the average drag coefficient increases only 3%.