Abstract
Fuel cell not only generates electricity but also releases a great deal of waste heat. If the waste heat can be harvested by hybridizing thermal devices, the overall energy conversion efficiency will be boosted. In this study, a thermoelectric generator is employed to recover the waste heat from fuel cell. Based on Fourier’s law, Seebeck effect, Peltier effect and Thomson effect, the energetic performance of thermoelectric generator (TEG) is evaluated. Mathematical simulation model is developed by Matlab software and the results show that the maximum power output and corresponding efficiency of TEG with Thomson effect are, respectively, 0.57 W and 2.71%, which are much lower than that of TEG without Thomson effect. Furthermore, the influences of phase change material, the heat source temperature, total number of thermoelectric elements and the cross-sectional area of semiconductor legs are analyzed. The derived results may provide new insights for understanding the energetic performances of such an actual system.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - 23 Sept 2021 |
| Event | The 8th Asian Symposium on Computational Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, Qingdao, Sep. 23-26, 2021 - Duration: 23 Sept 2021 → … |
Conference
| Conference | The 8th Asian Symposium on Computational Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, Qingdao, Sep. 23-26, 2021 |
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| Period | 23/09/21 → … |
Keywords
- Thermoelectric generator, Waste heat recovery, Phase change material, Thomson effect, Parametric analysis