Abstract:

Proposed in this paper is the structure of a thermoelectric generator with high power density. In the hot channel of the heat exchanger,a high-temperature part of conversion elements in cross and arc shapes is set,which enlarges the heat exchange area. In the cooling channel,centralized cooling is employed and a low-temperature part of conversion elements is installed. Moreover,hot convection is adopted in both the hot and the cooling channels. Lots of thermocouple arrays are installed in conversion elements,which connect with the parallel thin thermocouples,metal deflectors and transitional wires to form a loop that transmits heat and electric currents,and some loops are contacted to increase the output voltage. Numerical results show that the conversion elements are of uniform temperature distribution as well as low resistance,so that it improves the load characteristics of the thermoelectric generator.

Key words: thermoelectric generator, power density, structure, heat transfer enhancement, resistance