Experimental and Analytical Simulation Analyses on the Electrical Performance of Thermoelectric Generator Modules for Direct and Concentrated Quartz-Halogen Heat Harvesting

Abstract

The scope of thermoelectric generators (TEGs), in improving the electric vehicle battery performance and glass/steel manufacturing industries, could achieve wider significance by harnessing the unused radiative heat and light conversion to electrical power. This paper experimentally investigates the electrical performance correlated to concentrated quartz-halogen, with acrylic Fresnel lens and heat-light harvesting, coupled with heat sink. This study also experimentally examined the influence of extreme temperature variance on the open circuit generated voltage of the Peltier electrical failure mode, compared to the standard performance parameters of the commercial TEG module. The research results presented provide expedient perception into the testing (open circuit voltage, short circuit current, and full load power) of a commercial heat-stove TEG to understand its performance limitations. The analytical simulation and mathematical model developed in MATLAB compared the electrical performance parameters and its dependencies. The analytical simulation shows that increasing the heat-sink temperature increases the efficiency of not more than 2% at the Δ T of 360 K, due to the limitation of the Z T ¯ of 0.43 at Δ T of 390 K. The maximum Z T ¯ of 0.7 for Bi2Te3, with an achievable efficiency of 4.5% at the Seebeck coefficient of 250 µV/K, was predicted. The design of three experimental setups and results presented demonstrate the functioning of TEG in stable and unstable temperature conditions, confirming the theoretical study and stipulating a quantity of the electrical output power in relation to extreme temperature conditions.