Design and Simulation of Thermoelectric Generator to Enhance the Cooling Rate and Power Generation from Waste Heat of Chimney by Employing Different Angles of Flaps †

Abstract

This study consists of a modern and economic way to recover the heat wasted from the industrial chimneys which are cooled down by natural sources by using thermal electric generator heat sinks. A flap with altered heat sink (which is attached at the top of thermo-electric generator) is used in place of convectional heat sink base. A 3D model is proposed by using AUTODESK Fusion 360 and is solved by using Workbench 2021 R1 ANSYS. The presented setup fully describes the transfer of heat along the one vertical bar inside the TEGs module which is mounted along the vertical wall of the Chimney. The impact of Flap dimensions (Height, Depth, and Angle) and conductive material performance is studied. The flap angles are 45°, 50° and 60° and depths of the flap are 28 mm, 30 mm and 33 mm. This altered heat sink accomplishes about 28% enhance in the rate of cooling of TEGs module. The maximum output power, i.e., 105 mV of the TEGs module is at 60° and at 33 mm depth. The results show that remodified heat sink maintains the system simple and requires less maintenance and also improves the cooling rate of the thermoelectric generator, which as a result improves its performance and make it reliable.