3 kW Thermoelectric Generator for Natural Gas-Powered Heavy-Duty Vehicles—Holistic Development, Optimization and Validation

Emissions from heavy-duty vehicles need to be reduced to decrease their impact on the climate and to meet future regulatory requirements. The use of a cost-optimized thermoelectric generator based on total cost of ownership is proposed for this vehicle class with natural gas engines. A holistic mode...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnergies (Basel) Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 15
Main Authors Heber, Lars, Schwab, Julian, Knobelspies, Timo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2022
Subjects
Amortization
automotive thermoelectric generator
CFD in thermoelectrics
Costs
Efficiency
Electric power
Emissions
engine exhaust heat recovery
Engines
Heat conductivity
Heat exchangers
Heat recovery systems
Heavy vehicles
High temperature
Natural gas
Natural gas vehicles
Optimization
thermo-economic analysis
Thermoelectric generators
Thermoelectricity
Topology
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Summary:Emissions from heavy-duty vehicles need to be reduced to decrease their impact on the climate and to meet future regulatory requirements. The use of a cost-optimized thermoelectric generator based on total cost of ownership is proposed for this vehicle class with natural gas engines. A holistic model environment is presented that includes all vehicle interactions. Simultaneous optimization of the heat exchanger and thermoelectric modules is required to enable high system efficiency. A generator design combining high electrical power (peak power of about 3000 W) with low negative effects was selected as a result. Numerical CFD and segmented high-temperature thermoelectric modules are used. For the first time, the possibility of an economical use of the system in the amortization period of significantly less than 2 years is available, with a fuel reduction in a conventional vehicle topology of already up to 2.8%. A significant improvement in technology maturity was achieved, and the power density of the system was significantly improved to 298 W/kg and 568 W/dm3 compared to the state of the art. A functional model successfully validated the simulation results with an average deviation of less than 6%. An electrical output power of up to 2700 W was measured.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en15010015