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Cost-effective waste heat recovery using thermoelectric systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2012

Kazuaki Yazawa  and
Ali Shakouri
Kazuaki Yazawa*
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Baskin School of Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064; and Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
Ali Shakouri*
Affiliation:
Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907; and Department of Electrical Engineering, Baskin School of Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064
*
a)Address all correspondence to these authors. e-mail: kaz@soe.ucsc.edu
b)e-mail: shakouri@purdue.edu
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Abstract

Optimizing thermoelectric (TE) materials and modules are important factors, which can lead to widespread adoption of waste heat recovery systems. The analytic co-optimization of the TE leg, heat sink, and the load resistance shows that all parameters entering the figure-of-merit (Z) do not have the same impact on cost/performance trade-off. Thermal conductivity of the TE material plays a more important role than the power factor. This study also explores the impact of heat losses and the required contact resistances. Finally, we present the theoretical cost performance ($/W) of TE waste heat recovery systems for vehicle waste heat recovery application, assuming hot side gas temperature of 600 °C and a cooling water temperature of 60 °C.

Keywords

ThermoelectricThermal conductivityEnergy generation
Type
Invited Feature Paper
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 27 , Issue 9 , 14 May 2012 , pp. 1211 - 1217
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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