Development of Fabrication Process to Prototype a Novel Annular Thermoelectric Generator Design

Abstract

The goal of this project is to develop a fabrication process for an annular thermoelectric module using a powder methodology that can potentially later be automated for high volume manufacturing. Prototypes were produced and experimentally tested to study and characterize thermal and effective Seebeck performance. Manufacturing procedure parameters were changed systematically to characterize the impact on key performance parameters and develop the fabrication process. Parameters investigated were sintering temperature, pressing pressure, oxide reduction and geometry. A novel design for an annular thermoelectric generator geometry has been proposed. The new geometry utilizes more of the module material into power production making the geometry more efficient than the typical ring-structured modules similar to that proposed by Min & Rowe (2007). Experimental results tests highlighting only geometry differences showed V-shaped modules with higher effective Seebeck coefficient compared to ring-structured modules. Experimental results showed the proposed V-shaped annular thermoelectric generator prototype with a Seebeck coefficient of 190.75 µV/K compared to (Min & Rowe, 2007)’s earlier ring-structured prototype measuring a Seebeck coefficient of 145 µV/K. A numerical simulation model was created to compare electrical and thermal behaviour for different TEG module geometries. ANSYS Workbench® simulation results show that V-shaped TEG module outperforms the ring-structured design similar to Min et al.’s design by 7% to 9% under different conditions.