Analysis of the heat transfer characteristics in a thermoelectric conversion device

Thermoelectric power generation systems directly transform thermal energy into electric energy using thermoelectric conversion elements. However, the performance enhancement of thermoelectric conversion materials is difficult now. Moreover, generation efficiency is low because the heat loss occurs in a device. Therefore the heat electric conversion system is hardly used. To reduce the heat loss in a thermoelectric conversion system, the contact plate material in the device was changed from a ceramic to copper. This material provided a grooved interlocking of the contact plate. In this study, the optimal shape of the proposed contact plate material was analyzed by computer simulation. The heat loss was found to depend on the shape of the interlocking grooves in the contact plate, and decreased with increasing contact area and pitch width.