This paper investigates the heat transfer characteristics of a thermoelectric generator. The influence of heat dissipation intensity to the sub-thermal resistances distribution is experimentally studied. Based on the ...This paper investigates the heat transfer characteristics of a thermoelectric generator. The influence of heat dissipation intensity to the sub-thermal resistances distribution is experimentally studied. Based on the thermal network analysis and finite time thermodynamics, an analytical model including all thermal resistances (in both thermocouples and external heat exchangers) is developed to predict the performance of the generator. The results show that the computed values of output power agree well with the experimental values. The heat transfer enhancement on the generator cold side greatly reduces the cold side temperature and thermal resistance, and obviously improves the output power. Compare with air natural convection cooling, the main thermal resistance changes from the resistance between the fins and the ambient to the thermal contact resistances between the generator and the heat sink at the conditions of forced convection and water cooling. This study may be guide the optimization of generator structure.展开更多
Nanostructured surface is a promising photon management strategy to tune spectrum in design of the selective solar absorber.In this paper,we propose a nanocone structured surface as a perfect solar absorber in applica...Nanostructured surface is a promising photon management strategy to tune spectrum in design of the selective solar absorber.In this paper,we propose a nanocone structured surface as a perfect solar absorber in application of the solar thermoelectric generators(STEGs).The trade-off between the solar absorption and the mid-infrared emission is obtained to maximize the STEG efficiency.The effects of the geometric parameters,thermal concentration,incident angle and polarized state as well as the lattice arrangement are systematically investigated.The results show that the STEGs equipped with our proposed selective solar absorber can achieve a peak efficiency of 6.53%under AM1.5G condition(no optical concentration).Furthermore,the selective solar absorber exhibits insensitive behavior to the incident angle and polarization angle as well.This means that the proposed selective solar absorber can utilize solar energy as much as possible and be generally suitable in equipping the STEGs without optical concentration.展开更多
基金supported by The Major Technology Special Program of Guangdong Province(Grant No.2008A080302002 and 2010A080405003)
文摘This paper investigates the heat transfer characteristics of a thermoelectric generator. The influence of heat dissipation intensity to the sub-thermal resistances distribution is experimentally studied. Based on the thermal network analysis and finite time thermodynamics, an analytical model including all thermal resistances (in both thermocouples and external heat exchangers) is developed to predict the performance of the generator. The results show that the computed values of output power agree well with the experimental values. The heat transfer enhancement on the generator cold side greatly reduces the cold side temperature and thermal resistance, and obviously improves the output power. Compare with air natural convection cooling, the main thermal resistance changes from the resistance between the fins and the ambient to the thermal contact resistances between the generator and the heat sink at the conditions of forced convection and water cooling. This study may be guide the optimization of generator structure.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51336003)the 333 Scientific Research Project of Jiangsu Province(Grant No.BRA2011134)
文摘Nanostructured surface is a promising photon management strategy to tune spectrum in design of the selective solar absorber.In this paper,we propose a nanocone structured surface as a perfect solar absorber in application of the solar thermoelectric generators(STEGs).The trade-off between the solar absorption and the mid-infrared emission is obtained to maximize the STEG efficiency.The effects of the geometric parameters,thermal concentration,incident angle and polarized state as well as the lattice arrangement are systematically investigated.The results show that the STEGs equipped with our proposed selective solar absorber can achieve a peak efficiency of 6.53%under AM1.5G condition(no optical concentration).Furthermore,the selective solar absorber exhibits insensitive behavior to the incident angle and polarization angle as well.This means that the proposed selective solar absorber can utilize solar energy as much as possible and be generally suitable in equipping the STEGs without optical concentration.
