Abonnement à la biblothèque: Guest

ISBN: 978-1-56700-537-0

ISBN Online: 978-1-56700-538-7

ISSN Online: 2377-424X

International Heat Transfer Conference 17
August, 14-18, 2023, Cape Town, South Africa

AN INNOVATIVE HEAT SINK INTEGRATED WEARABLE THERMOELECTRIC GENERATOR FOR A BODY HEAT HARVESTING

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC17.210-310
7 pages

Résumé

The demand for energy harvesting devices is ever-growing with the recent advancements in wearable technologies and low-powered medical sensors. A thermoelectric generator (TEG) based body heat harvesting is capable of continuously powering wearable sensors by prolonging the limited battery life and by replacing the need for frequent charging. Although the attachment of heat sinks allows the further increase of TEG output power, conventional heat sinks are large and bulky, making the device unsuitable for wearable applications. This work proposes a TEG integrated with a flexible, wavy, micron-thin P(VdF-HFP) heat sink which can dissipate heat through both radiation and convection. The high reflectivity of the radiative heat sink in the ultraviolet range and the high emissivity in the longwave infrared range leads to the reflection of most of the incident solar radiation and dumping of heat into the cold outers space (3K) through the transparent atmospheric window (8-13 micrometer), respectively. Additionally, the wavy structure of the radiative heat sink induces bulk fluid motion so that it can enhance convection heat transfer leading to an average cooling of 6.2K even during nighttime. The proposed wavy radiative heat sink integrated TEG achieved a temperature difference of 1.74K based on body heat harvesting. Furthermore, with the integration of a DC-DC voltage booster and battery cell or capacitor, the wearable self-powered TEG system could power a homemade micro-pump demonstrating the capability of the TEG system in meeting the demand for energy harvesting devices for wearable, low-powered medical devices.