Cost-effective waste heat recovery using thermoelectric systems
Date of this Version
5-2012Citation
Journal of Materials Research, Volume 27, Issue 9 May 2012, pp. 1211-1217. Kazuaki Yazawa and Ali Shakouri
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 degrees C and a cooling water temperature of 60 degrees C.
Discipline(s)
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
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