An Experimental Study On Structure Optimization And Transient Response For Thermoelectric Generation System

Thermoelectric generation technology is an effective technique which use lowgrade heat sources for power generation. The low grade heat sources include both newclean alternative energy and traditional waste energy, such as solar energy and wasteheat energy from engine exhaust. Thermoelectric power generation has manyadvantages, such as no moving parts, no noise pollution, no emissions.Thermoelectric power generation technology research has not only importanttheoretical significance but also significant engineering value. Both theoretical studyand experimental study of thermoelectric power generation technology areprogressing slowly. The objective of this experimental study is to explore thestructural optimization and transient response characteristics of thermoelectricgeneration system.In this study, an experimental thermoelectric power generation test system whichincludes a heating unit, a cooling unit, a thermoelectric power generation unit, a dataacquisition unit and other subsystems was designed and built. The experiments werecarried out to examine the influences of different heating devices, different coolingdevices, different structures of generating unit and different contact pressures on theperformance of thermoelectric generator. Furthermore, some other experiments werealso carried out to study the transient response characteristics of thermoelectric powergeneration system under two typical start conditions within the effect of contactpressure.Throughout the experiments, Firstly, it can be seen that the uneven hot sidetemperature distribution will cause system performance degradation. Secondly, it canbe seen that the type of cold source has great affection on the performance of thethermoelectric generator. Thirdly, the structure of power generation unit has greataffection on the performance of the system output under the same conditions. It isimportant to adjust the connections between thermoelectric power generation tabletsto make the internal and external resistances of the circuit equal. Fourthly, the opencircuit voltage and maximum power output increase with increasing the pressure, butthe increasing rate of them become smaller and smaller. Fifthly, the transient responsecharacteristics of the hot side and cold side temperatures seem insensitive to the contact pressure, somehow the transient response rate of open circuit voltageaccelerates with increasing the pressure. Sixthly, the temporal characteristics of theopen circuit voltage seem insensitive to the contact pressure, somehow the value ofopen circuit voltage increases with increasing the pressure. Finally, the time forthermoelectric generation tablets to reach a stable condition is decided by itselfperformance.