Design and construction of a simple thermoelectric generator heat exchanger for power generation from salinity gradient solar pond

Abstract

Solar pond is one source of renewable thermal energy. The solar pond collects and stores thermal energy at the lower zone of the solar pond. The temperature at the lower zone can reach up to 90 °C. The solar pond is capable storing thermal energy for a long period. The stored thermal energy can be converted into electricity by using thermoelectric generators. These thermoelectric generators can be operated using the cold and hot zones from a solar pond. In this paper, the experimental investigation of power generation from the solar pond using thermoelectric generator and simple heat exchanger is discussed. A maximum of 7.02 W of electrical power output was obtained from a simple heat exchanger with 40 thermoelectric modules.