Performance Analysis of a Thermoelectric Cooler Placed between Two Thermoelectric Generators for Different Heat Transfer Conditions

Abstract

The thermoelectric cooler (TEC) and thermoelectric generator (TEG) modules have several appealing features, including fixed parts, high reliability, low maintenance costs, and seamless connection with other heating equipment, accompaniment, can be powered by a variety of low-energy renewable energy sources such as solar water/ air collectors, ground heat exchangers or heat from biomass. The thermoelectric assembly was integrated into the TEC using the TEG in this study. A prototype was developed in which recently developed thermoelectric modules were integrated into a thermoelectric cooler. For this purpose, a TEC sandwiched between two TEGs with different heat transfer conditions was established, to simulate the heat transfer and thermoelectric behavior of both the TEG and the TEC system, and evaluate the effect of the combined TEG-TEC on the performance parameters of the good system by comparing different cooling modes ranging from natural convection, forced convection, and water-cooling tests. It was shown that to the natural convection of heat transfer, as the TEC voltage increases, the hot surface temperature of the upper TEG increases, and the cold surface temperature of the lower TEG decreases, where the lowest TEC temperature reaches 1.36 A. When using forced convection (by using a fan), the temperature profile decreases over time, starting at around 70 °C for 7V, and after almost 60 minutes, the temperature drops to around 45 °C for 3V. This turned out to be a match between experiment and theory in all traces shown, with a voltage difference of 25 mV for 3V TEC and ending at 70 mV for 8V TEC