Experimental Research on Utilization of Motorcycle Exhaust Heat Using Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) For Mobile Phone Chargers

Abstract

In most vehicles with a combustion engine, about 65% of the remaining combustion energy dissipating as heat. Heat is a form of energy release from the combustion process in the combustion chamber channeled through a motorized vehicle's exhaust. The exhaust heat has the potential to be reused as a source of heat energy that can be transformed into electrical energy using a thermoelectric generator (TEG) attached to a motorized vehicle exhaust system. The application of TEG in motorcycle exhaust is an effort to increase the fuel efficiency of motor vehicles. This research aims to create and develop prototypes that apply TEG to motorcycle exhausts, convert motorcycle exhaust heat into electrical energy, and make prototype designs for cell phone chargers. Several steps have been conducted, including the design process with Autodesk Fusion 360 Student Edition application, while prototyping is done by manually assembling all the components used. The measuring instruments used during the prototype testing are the k-type thermocouple and DC voltage sensor connected to the data logger and laptop. The engine speed at the time of testing was 4000 RPM. In the test using a heat pipe, it was obtained ∆T 115°C on the cold side of TEG at a voltage of 4.47 V when the motorbike was stopped or idle, which was relatively better than the TEG test using a heatsink as a cooling system.