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Thermal–electrical–structural performances of hot heat exchanger with different internal fins of thermoelectric generator for low power generation application

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Abstract

In this study, an electro-thermo-structural coupled numerical analysis is conducted to evaluate the thermal, electrical, and structural performances of a thermoelectric generator system. The hot heat exchangers with six different internal fin structures are compared in terms of temperature distribution, pressure drop, net power output, overall efficiency, and stress using the coupled numerical approach. Experiments are conducted on the heat exchanger with straight fins to validate the accuracy and reliability of the proposed coupled analysis. The hot gas outlet temperature, coolant outlet temperature, power output, and stress predicted using the coupled approach are validated within errors of 1.5, 6, 3, and 5.45%, respectively. Among the proposed heat exchanger designs, the heat exchanger with inclined fins and that with the combination of inclined and perpendicular fins exhibit higher net power outputs and overall efficiencies. The heat exchanger with the inclined fins and that with the combined fins exhibit overall efficiencies of 1.81 and 1.88% and net power outputs higher by 29 and 35%, respectively, than those of the heat exchanger with straight fins at the hot gas temperature of 600 °C. At the hot gas temperature 600 °C, the maximum stresses induced in the heat exchanger with the inclined fins and that with the combined fins are approximately 25.87 and 26.53 MPa, respectively, which are lower than the maximum allowable stress of 70 MPa.

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Abbreviations

\(C_{\text{ph}}\) :

Specific heat (J kg−1 K−1) of hot gas

\(D_{\text{H}}\) :

Hydraulic diameter (m)

\(\vec{E}\) :

Electric field intensity (V m−1)

\(\overline{E}\) :

Young’s modulus (GPa)

\(H_{{{\text{a}},{\text{T}}}}\) :

Heat absorbed (W) by thermoelectric modules

\(h\) :

Enthalpy (J)

\(I\) :

Current (A)

\(\vec{J}\) :

Electric current intensity (A m−2)

\(k\) :

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

\(\dot{m}_{\text{h}}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg s−1) of hot gas

\(P\) :

Static pressure (Pa)

\(\Delta P\) :

Pressure drop (Pa)

\(P_{\text{L}}\) :

Power loss (W) from system

\(P_{\text{M}}\) :

Power output (W) from the thermoelectric modules

\(P_{\text{N}}\) :

Net power output (W) from system

\(P_{\text{T}}\) :

Total power output (W) from system

\(p\) :

Peltier coefficient (V)

\(Q_{\text{h}}\) :

Total heat transferred from the hot gas

\(S_{\text{E}}\) :

Energy source

\(S_{\text{M}}\) :

Momentum source

\(T_{\text{c}}\) :

Cold side temperature of thermoelectric module (°C)

\(T_{\text{h}}\) :

Hot side temperature of thermoelectric module (°C)

\(T_{\text{hi}}\) :

Hot gas inlet temperature (°C)

\(T_{\text{ho}}\) :

Hot gas outlet temperature (°C)

\(U\) :

Average velocity (m s−1)

\(V\) :

Voltage load (V)

\(\dot{V}\) :

Volume flow rate (m3 s−1)

\(V_{\text{opt}}\) :

Optimum voltage (V)

\(\rho\) :

Density (kg m−3)

\(\nabla\) :

Gradient operator

\(\tau\) :

Stress tensor

\(\mu\) :

Dynamic viscosity (Pa s)

\(\sigma\) :

Electrical conductivity (Ω−1 m−1)

\(\alpha\) :

Seebeck coefficient (V K−1)

\(\nabla \emptyset\) :

Electric potential (J C−1)

\(\overline{\sigma }\) :

Stress (Pa)

\(\overline{\varepsilon }\) :

Strain

\(v\) :

Poisson’s ratio

\(\overline{\alpha }\) :

Coefficient of thermal expansion (°C−1)

\(\eta\) :

Conversion efficiency (%) of thermoelectric modules

\(\eta_{\text{o}}\) :

Overall efficiency (%) of whole thermoelectric generator system

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Acknowledgements

This work was conducted under the framework of Research and Development Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) (B9-2431).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Dong-A University, 37 Nakdong-Daero 550, Saha-gu, Busan, Republic of Korea

    Kunal Sandip Garud, Jae-Hyeong Seo, Mahesh Suresh Patil & Moo-Yeon Lee

  2. Energy Saving Technologies Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research, 152 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34129, Republic of Korea

    You-Ma Bang, Young-Dug Pyo & Chong-Pyo Cho

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  1. Kunal Sandip Garud
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Garud, K.S., Seo, JH., Patil, M.S. et al. Thermal–electrical–structural performances of hot heat exchanger with different internal fins of thermoelectric generator for low power generation application. J Therm Anal Calorim 143, 387–419 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-020-09553-7

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