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Replacing commercial thermoelectric generators with a novel electrochemical device in low-grade heat applications

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  • Fathabadi, Hassan

Abstract

A thermoelectric generator (TEG) is a solid-state electronic device. The main defect of a commercial TEG, which makes it useless for most of practical applications such as solar energy harvesting, is its very low power production when the difference of temperature between its two surfaces ranges below 50 °C. The traditional solution is to add some relatively expensive devices such as concentrator, evaporator, condenser and cooling system to TEGs that there is often no technical and economical justification for it. This study provides a new solution by presenting a novel electrochemical device operating based on the thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC). The proposed device is first analyzed in detail to provide theoretical concepts. A prototype of the device has been constructed, and experimental verifications are given that substantiate the capability of the device in precisely mapping temperature difference between its two cells to its output electric power. A comparison between the proposed electrochemical device and a commercial TEG module TEG1-1263-4.3 is also performed that demonstrates the power production of the electrochemical device is extremely more than that of a commercial TEG module, in particular, in the temperature difference range of 0–50 °C. For instance, 54.5 W of electric power is produced by the device at the temperature difference of 50 °C, while it is only 0.3 W for a TEG module TEG1-1263-4.3. This point explicitly verifies the superiority of the proposed electrochemical device in low-grade heat harvesting. The novelty and originality of this study can be summarized as follows. First, presenting and constructing a novel electrochemical device operating based on the TREC with the size and weight of, respectively, 50×30×32cm3 and 3.1 kg that makes it portable and suitable for industrial applications. Second, the power production of the constructed electrochemical device is extremely greater than that of TEG modules that considering size, weight and portability is the only alternative technology in low-grade heat harvesting applications. Third, this work presents an electrochemical device which is an industrial TREC based system applicable to industrial applications that is clearly different from small-scale TREC cells reported in the literature, which are only applicable to small-scale experimental applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Fathabadi, Hassan, 2019. "Replacing commercial thermoelectric generators with a novel electrochemical device in low-grade heat applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 932-937.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:174:y:2019:i:c:p:932-937
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.02.122
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. He, Wei & Zhang, Gan & Zhang, Xingxing & Ji, Jie & Li, Guiqiang & Zhao, Xudong, 2015. "Recent development and application of thermoelectric generator and cooler," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1-25.
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    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Yuewu & Li, Danyi & Chen, Zhuo, 2022. "Potential analysis of a system hybridizing dye-sensitized solar cell with thermally regenerative electrochemical devices," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    2. Al-Nimr, Moh'd A. & Dawahdeh, Ahmad I. & Ali, Hussain A., 2022. "Power generation by integrating a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) with a solar pond and underground heat exchanger," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 663-675.
    3. Tang, Xin & Li, Guiqiang & Zhao, Xudong, 2021. "Effect of air gap on a novel hybrid photovoltaic/thermal and thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    4. Dawahdeh, Ahmad I. & Al-Nimr, Moh'd A., 2022. "Power generation by integrating a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) with a biofuel stove," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    5. Fathabadi, Hassan, 2020. "Novel solar-powered photovoltaic/thermoelectric hybrid power source," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 426-434.
    6. Fathabadi, Hassan, 2019. "Two novel methods for converting the waste heat of PV modules caused by temperature rise into electric power," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 543-551.
    7. Tang, Xin & Li, Guiqiang & Zhao, Xudong, 2021. "Performance analysis of a novel hybrid electrical generation system using photovoltaic/thermal and thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).

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