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ISSN Online: 2377-424X

ISBN Print: 978-1-56700-421-2

International Heat Transfer Conference 15
August, 10-15, 2014, Kyoto, Japan

Experimental Investigations on the Performance of a Thermoelectric Device with an Integrated Heat Exchanger and Flow Channels

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC15.tel.009996
pages 8007-8019

Sinopsis

An integrated thermoelectric device (iTED) has heat exchangers incorporated into the hot-side interconnectors with a flow channel directing the work fluid through the heat exchangers which are isolated from the iTED cavity. The iTED is connected electrically in series and thermally in parallel in which the cold-side interconnectors are exposed to a heat sink and the hot-side interconnects are exposed to the hot fluid flow. The iTED was constructed of p- and n-type bismuth-telluride semiconductors and aluminum interconnectors and circular rod heat exchangers. The performance of the iTED in terms of voltage-current characteristics, power output, heat input and conversion efficiency for various hot fluid flow rates (3,020 ≤ Re ≤ 6,050), and inlet temperatures (50 ≤ Tin (°C) ≤ 150) and load resistances (0 ≤ RL (Ω) ≤ 9,000) with a constant cold-side temperature (20 °C) was investigated experimentally. Compared to effects of Re, Tin showed a greater effect on the power output of the device. The power output increases non-linearly with an increase of Tin whereas the voltage, current, heat input and efficiency increase linearly with Tin. For a constant Tin, a two-fold (i.e. 200%) increase in Re results in 1.2-, 1.2-, 1.4- and 2.6-fold increase in voltage, current, power output and efficiency, respectively.