Enhancing thermocouple’s efficiency using an electrostatic voltage

Abstract

An electrostatic voltage is formed in the proposed thermocouple by the induced electrostatic potentials at the metallurgical junctions created by the n- and the p-type legs and their semiconductor emitters that are embedded on their exterior surfaces. The usable range of the electrostatic voltage was defined and used to enhance the output power and the efficiency of the thermocouple. An analytical formulation for and the numerical simulation of the thermocouple showed that the electrostatic voltage, as an addition to the Seebeck voltage, could enhance the output power and the efficiency up to four times those of the original thermocouple design with the same leg doping densities. Furthermore, the numerical simulation showed that for a given n- and a given p-type leg doping densities, an optimal combination of the emitter doping densities could always be found so that the output power and the efficiency of the thermocouple could be enhanced up to four times those of the thermocouple without the emitters.