Thermoelectric application in energy conservation

Abstract

In the becoming years, energy demand is expected to grow faster than current needs. Thermoelectric technology works through conversion process from heat energy into electricity directly and vice versa. Thermoelectric device that use for energy conversion from heat into electrical is known as thermoelectric generator (TEG). TEG is made of Bismuth Telluride, Lead Telluride and Silicon Germanium compound which contains figure of merit (ZT). In term of applications, TEG is possible to be applied in extreme condition such as a power supply in the space mission, harvesting heat from transportation vehicle, and getting waste heat from industrial sector. Furthermore thermoelectric generation is possible also to be applied as a micro power generation system which is very useful for electrical source for residential installation. In this paper, a brief review of above applications is presented. Early developed research investigation is carried out for application of thermoelectric generator in residential installation by using biomass wooden-fuel stove. The early result shows that there are amount of heat emitted from the side cylinder cook stove as energy waste. There is a chance and possibility to harvest energy waste in the stove to become electric source and finally this related research effort will increase the efficiency of the electric stove in energy conversion.