Design of thermoelectric generation system utilizing the exhaust gas of internal-combustion power plant

Author

Nagao, K. ; Nagai, A. ; Fujii, I. ; Sakurai, T. ; Fujimoto, M. ; Furue, T. ; Hayashida, T. ; Imaizumi, Y. ; Inoue, T.

Author_Institution

Ube Ind. Ltd., Japan

fYear

1998

fDate

24-28 May 1998

Firstpage

468

Lastpage

472

Abstract

This paper presents a design and performance calculation of a thermoelectric generation system utilizing the exhaust gas of an internal-combustion power plant. The thermoelectric module consists of sintered p- and n-type (Bi,Sb)₂(Te,Se)₃ elements, of which electrodes are formed by plasma sprayed aluminum, and an electrically and thermally insulating frame made of calcium silicate. The heat transfer tubes of the exhaust gas and that of the cooling water are designed to keep the surfaces, on which the modules are contacted, flat. The generation performance at a thermal equilibrium state was obtained by iterative calculations in a counter-current of the exhaust gas and the cooling water. The calculation results are that the power output was about 160 kW and that its conversion efficiency was 3.88% when utilizing the sensible heat of the exhaust gas of 180-370°C and 60000 Nm³/hr as a total flow rate, even after the required pumping power of the cooling water was subtracted

Keywords

aluminium; bismuth alloys; cooling; diesel-electric power stations; electrodes; iterative methods; plasma arc sprayed coatings; tellurium alloys; thermoelectric conversion; thermoelectric devices; (BiSb)₂(TeSe)₃; 160 kW; 180 to 370 C; 3.88 percent; Al; CaSiO; calcium silicate; conversion efficiency; cooling water; counter-current; electrically insulating frame; electrodes; exhaust gas; heat transfer tubes; internal-combustion power plant; iterative calculations; plasma sprayed aluminum; sintered n-type (Bi,Sb)₂(Te,Se)₃ elements; sintered p-type (Bi,Sb)₂(Te,Se)₃ elements; thermal equilibrium state; thermally insulating frame; thermoelectric generation system; Aluminum; Calcium; Cooling; Dielectrics and electrical insulation; Electrodes; Heat transfer; Power generation; Thermal spraying; Thermoelectricity; Water heating;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Thermoelectrics, 1998. Proceedings ICT 98. XVII International Conference on

Conference_Location

Nagoya

ISSN

1094-2734

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4907-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICT.1998.740420

Filename

740420