A new concept to harvest thermal energy using pyroeletric effect and Rayleigh-Benard convections

Abstract.

Thermal energy is one of the ambient energy sources surely exploitable but it has not drawn as much interest as mechanical energy. Our work aims to use thermal energy and to show that it is an important source for producing electrical energy using the pyroelectric effect. More precisely, we present in this paper a new concept to harvest thermal energy using the pyroelectric effect and Rayleigh-Benard convections. In fact, the convections will be created inside an oil bath, which can keep the pyroelectric element under temperature fluctuations (heating and cooling), making it possible to generate voltage by the pyroelectric effect. Our experimental findings show that with this original concept, based on Rayleigh-Benard convections, we harvested 0.28mW; this value was also improved by using the SSHI technique, which allows us to increase it up to 0.55mW. This obtained value of power is a heavy amount, which will certainly be useful in an extensive range of applications, including sensors and infrared detection. These results shed light on the thermoelectric energy conversion by PZT ceramic buzzer having the pyroelectric property, using a constant heat source.