Electrical Performance Comparison between Conventional Pi Shaped and Linear Shaped Thermoelectric Generators

• Published in: IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering Vol. 894; no. 1; pp. 12001 - 12006
• Main Authors: Garud, Kunal Sandip, Patil, Mahesh Suresh, Seo, Jae-Hyeong, Bang, You-Ma, Cho, Chong-Pyo, Lee, Moo-Yeon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.07.2020
• Subjects: Efficiency; Maximum power; N-type semiconductors; Numerical prediction; P-type semiconductors; Thermoelectric generators; Thermoelectricity
• ISSN: 1757-8981; 1757-899X
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/894/1/012001

The main objective of the present work is to show the superiority in performance of linear thermoelectric generator (TEG) over the conventional Pi shaped thermoelectric generator. Linear thermoelectric generator with various leg lengths as well as different lengths of p-type and n-type semiconductors are modeled. Power and efficiency of the linear thermoelectric generator with various leg lengths and different lengths of p and n legs are compared at the various hot side temperatures numerically using ANSYS 19.1 commercial software. Numerically predicted power of the linear thermoelectric generator is found within 5% error with corresponding theoretical power values. Results presented that, linear thermoelectric generator with a ratio of p leg length to total leg length equal to 0.56 showed higher power output and higher efficiency for all leg lengths as well as all hot side temperatures. Maximum power and maximum efficiency for linear thermoelectric generator with 0.56 length ratio are found 6% higher than maximum power and maximum efficiency of conventional Pi shaped thermoelectric generator with 0.5 length ratio.