Testing of an automobile exhaust thermoelectric generator in a light truck

Abstract

Testing was conducted on a prototype automobile exhaust thermoelectric generator (AETEG) installed in a 1999 GMC Sierra pick-up truck. The system consisted of the generator, its power conditioning unit, and the interfaces to the test truck's engine coolant and exhaust systems. The objective of the test was to measure the AETEG's performance and its effect on the truck systems as well as to determine which factors are important for optimizing an AETEG design. Testing was performed in a dynamometer-equipped wind tunnel at Delphi Corporation's Harrison Thermal Systems Division in Lockport, New York. The first tests established the benchmark data set. Then the prototype AETEG was installed and three configurations of the system were tested in succession: the AETEG alone, the AETEG with portions of the exhaust pipes leading to it insulated, and the AETEG with insulated upstream exhaust pipes and with a pre-cooling heat exchanger operating to lower the inlet coolant temperature to the generator. Some of the important outcomes of the tests were: insulating the exhaust and lowering the coolant temperature had a significant positive effect on the power, parasitic losses resulting from the AETEG weight and the coolant pumping power were significant but manageable, and the increased exhaust flow resistance and the additional heat load from the AETEG were not significant effects.