Utilization and Evaluation of Heat from Asphalt Pavement to Produce Power Using Thermoelectric Plate

Abstract

Alternatively, producing electrical energy using renewable energy become common issues due to the reducing amount of fossil fuel. Nowadays, reducing the use of fossil fuels and producing renewable energy has always been important to society. The asphalt pavements exposed to solar radiation, generate a massive amount of thermal energy that could be harvested using thermoelectric generators (TeGs). The thermal energy can convert into electrical energy based on the thermoelectric effect. Besides, the thermoelectric effect in asphalt pavement could also reduce the temperature of the road surface. Therefore, this paper presents the development of a system harvesting thermoelectric energy from asphalt pavement (SHTeG) based on the ambient air and road surface in central Malaysia. From the experiment, the result shows that the output voltage produces by the asphalt pavement 300 mm (length) × 300 mm (width) size is 0.2 V. Meanwhile, it can produce 52.74 kWh in 2 km road length with 10 m width size of the road. Thus, the finding was proven an excellent start for the enhancement and application of asphalt pavement with thermoelectric.