IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v282y2023ics0360544223022892.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Study of the geometry and structure of a thermoelectric leg with variable material properties and side heat dissipation based on thermodynamic, economic, and environmental analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Lan, Yuncheng
  • Lu, Junhui
  • Wang, Suilin

Abstract

Thermoelectric generator (TEG) without moving parts, refrigerants, and direct carbon emissions is the most promising way to reduce carbon dioxide. The economy and thermal efficiency of TEG are seriously inhibited by geometry and structure, while existing studies have not investigated the effect of geometric and structure on output characteristics when the model considers the effect of side leg dissipation and variable properties. This paper proposes a one-dimensional model considering the effect of Peltier heat, conductive heat, Joule heat, Thomson heat, side leg dissipation, and temperature dependence for variable and conventional geometric and structures for 8 different materials. The effects of operation parameters, geometry parameters, and structures on thermodynamic, economic, and environmental performances are studied. The higher hot source temperature and shorter leg length benefit comprehensive performance. Increasing side leg dissipation decreases efficiency. When the fin parameter (L(heP/λA)0.5) is below a specific value, increasing side leg dissipation can promote the output power, economic and environmental performance. Compared to the traditional structure, the output power and efficiency of new configurations are increased by 1.01–3.59 and 1.03–4.57 times, respectively; The cost and CO2 emission reduce by 1.0–72.1% for low hot source temperature and figure of merit (ZT) material.

Suggested Citation

  • Lan, Yuncheng & Lu, Junhui & Wang, Suilin, 2023. "Study of the geometry and structure of a thermoelectric leg with variable material properties and side heat dissipation based on thermodynamic, economic, and environmental analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:282:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223022892
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.128895
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223022892
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2023.128895?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lan, Yuncheng & Lu, Junhui & Mu, Lianbo & Wang, Suilin & Zhai, Huixing, 2023. "Waste heat recovery from exhausted gas of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell to produce hydrogen using thermoelectric generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    2. Kanimba, Eurydice & Pearson, Matthew & Sharp, Jeff & Stokes, David & Priya, Shashank & Tian, Zhiting, 2018. "A comprehensive model of a lead telluride thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 813-821.
    3. Xi Yang & Chris P. Nielsen & Shaojie Song & Michael B. McElroy, 2022. "Breaking the hard-to-abate bottleneck in China’s path to carbon neutrality with clean hydrogen," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 955-965, October.
    4. LeBlanc, Saniya & Yee, Shannon K. & Scullin, Matthew L. & Dames, Chris & Goodson, Kenneth E., 2014. "Material and manufacturing cost considerations for thermoelectrics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 313-327.
    5. Yilbas, Bekir Sami & Akhtar, S.S. & Sahin, A.Z., 2016. "Thermal and stress analyses in thermoelectric generator with tapered and rectangular pin configurations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 52-63.
    6. Luberti, Mauro & Gowans, Robert & Finn, Patrick & Santori, Giulio, 2022. "An estimate of the ultralow waste heat available in the European Union," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PC).
    7. Ju, Chengjian & Dui, Guansuo & Zheng, Helen Hao & Xin, Libiao, 2017. "Revisiting the temperature dependence in material properties and performance of thermoelectric materials," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 249-257.
    8. Ge, Ya & He, Kui & Xiao, Liehui & Yuan, Wuzhi & Huang, Si-Min, 2022. "Geometric optimization for the thermoelectric generator with variable cross-section legs by coupling finite element method and optimization algorithm," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 294-303.
    9. Lan, Yuncheng & Lu, Junhui & Li, Junming & Wang, Suilin, 2022. "Effects of temperature-dependent thermal properties and the side leg heat dissipation on the performance of the thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    10. Khalil, ALkhadher & Elhassnaoui, Ahmed & Yadir, Said & Abdellatif, Obbadi & Errami, Youssef & Sahnoun, Smail, 2021. "Performance comparison of TEGs for diverse variable leg geometry with the same leg volume," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    11. Yusuf, Aminu & Ballikaya, Sedat, 2022. "Electrical, thermomechanical and cost analyses of a low-cost thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    12. Liu, Hai-Bo & Wang, Shuo-Lin & Yang, Yan-Ru & Chen, Wei-Hsin & Wang, Xiao-Dong, 2020. "Theoretical analysis of performance of variable cross-section thermoelectric generators: Effects of shape factor and thermal boundary conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    13. Shen, Zu-Guo & Wu, Shuang-Ying & Xiao, Lan & Yin, Gang, 2016. "Theoretical modeling of thermoelectric generator with particular emphasis on the effect of side surface heat transfer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 367-379.
    14. Chika Maduabuchi & Hassan Fagehi & Ibrahim Alatawi & Mohammad Alkhedher, 2022. "Predicting the Optimal Performance of a Concentrated Solar Segmented Variable Leg Thermoelectric Generator Using Neural Networks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-25, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Weng, Zebin & Liu, Furong & Zhu, Wenchao & Li, Yang & Xie, Changjun & Deng, Jian & Huang, Liang, 2022. "Performance improvement of variable-angle annular thermoelectric generators considering different boundary conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    2. Lan, Yuncheng & Lu, Junhui & Li, Junming & Wang, Suilin, 2022. "Effects of temperature-dependent thermal properties and the side leg heat dissipation on the performance of the thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    3. Zhu, WenChao & Yang, Wenlong & Yang, Yang & Li, Yang & Li, Hao & Shi, Ying & Yan, Yonggao & Xie, Changjun, 2022. "Economic configuration optimization of onboard annual thermoelectric generators under multiple operating conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 486-499.
    4. Junpeng Liu & Yajing Sun & Gang Chen & Pengcheng Zhai, 2023. "Performance Analysis of Variable Cross-Section TEGs under Constant Heat Flux Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-16, June.
    5. Lan, Yuncheng & Lu, Junhui & Mu, Lianbo & Wang, Suilin & Zhai, Huixing, 2023. "Waste heat recovery from exhausted gas of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell to produce hydrogen using thermoelectric generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    6. Daniel Sanin-Villa & Oscar D. Monsalve-Cifuentes & Elkin E. Henao-Bravo, 2021. "Evaluation of Thermoelectric Generators under Mismatching Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-20, December.
    7. Ye-Qi Zhang & Jiao Sun & Guang-Xu Wang & Tian-Hu Wang, 2022. "Advantage of a Thermoelectric Generator with Hybridization of Segmented Materials and Irregularly Variable Cross-Section Design," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, April.
    8. Zou, Wen-Jiang & Shen, Kun-Yang & Jung, Seunghun & Kim, Young-Bae, 2021. "Application of thermoelectric devices in performance optimization of a domestic PEMFC-based CHP system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    9. Sun, Yajing & Chen, Gang & Duan, Bo & Li, Guodong & Zhai, Pengcheng, 2019. "An annular thermoelectric couple analytical model by considering temperature-dependent material properties and Thomson effect," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    10. Zhu, WenChao & Weng, Zebin & Li, Yang & Zhang, Leiqi & Zhao, Bo & Xie, Changjun & Shi, Ying & Huang, Liang & Yan, Yonggao, 2022. "Theoretical analysis of shape factor on performance of annular thermoelectric generators under different thermal boundary conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PD).
    11. Kanimba, Eurydice & Pearson, Matthew & Sharp, Jeff & Stokes, David & Priya, Shashank & Tian, Zhiting, 2018. "A comprehensive model of a lead telluride thermoelectric generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 813-821.
    12. Sui, Xiaomei & Zhang, Zhe & Zhang, Yuqi & Xu, Daochun & Li, Wenbin, 2021. "Simplified calculation model for the effect of nonlinear temperature dependence of thermoelectric properties on the conversion efficiency," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    13. Sripadmanabhan Indira, Sridhar & Aravind Vaithilingam, Chockalingam & Narasingamurthi, Kulasekharan & Sivasubramanian, Ramsundar & Chong, Kok-Keong & Saidur, R., 2022. "Mathematical modelling, performance evaluation and exergy analysis of a hybrid photovoltaic/thermal-solar thermoelectric system integrated with compound parabolic concentrator and parabolic trough con," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    14. Romo-De-La-Cruz, Cesar-Octavio & Chen, Yun & Liang, Liang & Paredes-Navia, Sergio A. & Wong-Ng, Winnie K. & Song, Xueyan, 2023. "Entering new era of thermoelectric oxide ceramics with high power factor through designing grain boundaries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    15. Yang, Wei & Bao, Jingjing & Liu, Hongtao & Zhang, Jun & Guo, Lin, 2023. "Low-grade heat to hydrogen: Current technologies, challenges and prospective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    16. Chen, Wei-Hsin & Wang, Chi-Ming & Lee, Da-Sheng & Kwon, Eilhann E. & Ashokkumar, Veeramuthu & Culaba, Alvin B., 2022. "Optimization design by evolutionary computation for minimizing thermal stress of a thermoelectric generator with varied numbers of square pin fins," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    17. Fan, Zeng & Zhang, Yaoyun & Pan, Lujun & Ouyang, Jianyong & Zhang, Qian, 2021. "Recent developments in flexible thermoelectrics: From materials to devices," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    18. Rezania, A. & Rosendahl, L.A., 2017. "Feasibility and parametric evaluation of hybrid concentrated photovoltaic-thermoelectric system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 380-389.
    19. Huang, Bin & Shen, Zu-Guo, 2022. "Performance assessment of annular thermoelectric generators for automobile exhaust waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    20. Wang, Xue & Wang, Hongchao & Su, Wenbing & Chen, Tingting & Tan, Chang & Madre, María A. & Sotelo, Andres & Wang, Chunlei, 2022. "U-type unileg thermoelectric module: A novel structure for high-temperature application with long lifespan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PB).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:282:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223022892. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.