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Cooling System Investigation of Thermoelectric

Generator Used for Marine Waste Heat Recovery


Liping Wang Alessandro Romagnoli
Rolls-Royce@NTU Corporate Lab Department of Mechanical Enginering
Nanyang Technological University Nanyang Technological University
Singapore 639798, Singapore Singapore 639798, Singapore
Email: wangliping01132@hotmail.com Email: A.Romagnoli@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract—There has been great interest on exploring the a power control device to deliver the desired electrical output.
potential of waste heat extraction using thermoelectric generator Apart from the developments of thermoelectric materials with
(TEG) system on marine application, due to great amount of larger ZT value,
exhaust gas volume, many potential locations with consistent S2σ
high temperature and availability of infinite cooling sea water. ZT = T (1)
To improve the overall output performance of TEG system κ
in terms of efficiency, proper system level engineering and
integration have been considered crucial besides development where S is Seebeck coefficient, σ is electrical conductivity, κ
of thermoelectric materials with larger ZT (figure of merit) is thermal conductivity and T is the temperature of material,
value and optimal control strategy of electrical interface sys-
tem. In this work, preliminary experimental investigation and and control strategy of power generation system [4]–[6], it
numerical modelling optimization on the cooling system for a was acknowledged that proper system level integration of
thermoelectric module level device are conducted. The predicted these four components is crucial for high-efficiency TEG
open-circuit voltages by thermoelectric simulation for device with implementation. Tian et al. [7] indicated that TEG system
conventional tubed water cooling plate are in good agreement should be developed integrally to match heat flux through
with the measured experimental data for various hot exhaust
temperatures. The model is then revised for further simulation to every component for the optimized system level performance,
optimize the cooling plate design by examining detailed thermal which is arguably more urgent than improving ZT value of
performance and electrical current-voltage characteristics for the materials. LeBlan [8] had compared between TEG system
thermoelectric module device with varying electrical load. These efficiency and thermoelectric material efficiency for three
investigations demonstrate that a local effective cooling system is potential waste heat recovery applications of water heater,
important for high efficiency TEG implementation. This module-
level observation serves to perceive how TEG system integrates as automotive exhaust and industrial furnace. It is shown that
well as indicate potential improvement for TEG power conversion the TEG system efficiency is 32%, 33% and 59% lower than
system. With good accuracy, the employed simulation tool is the conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials for these
capable of rapidly characterizing TEG system level performance three applications respectively.
in future work. There have been various research activities in characterizing
thermoelectric module level device that consists of heater, full-
I. I NTRODUCTION
scale thermoelectric module and water cooling plate in order
Applying waste heat recovery technologies in marine appli- to identify factors governing the TEG system engineering and
cation have drawn great attention for their potential to address integration. Freunek et al. [9] had built a test rig to verify their
growing fossil fuel costs as well as stringent emission regula- proposed physical model of TEG, using hot water as a heat
tions [1]. Technologies, such as Organic Rankine Cycle(ORC), source and heat sink for heat dissipation. Considering a wide
Turbo Compounding [2], are being explored to increase the range of working temperature and external electrical load,
fuel efficiency by reutilizing great amount of exhaust waste Sandoz-Rosado and Stevens [10] had developed a thermo-
heat from marine power system. Thermoelectric generator electric module test stand which includes the monitoring sys-
(TEG) is a solid state technology that produces electricity tem for measurement of temperature, electrical performance,
when there is a temperature difference across the junctions heat rates and mechanical loading. Casano et al. [11] and
of thermoelectric materials . Considering the presence of Montecucco et al. [12] also had designed test systems to
many potential waste heat recovery locations with consistent assess thermoelectric module device performance with varied
temperature and unlimited supply of sea water for cooling the success. Besides experimental investigation, many researchers
TEG system, there is significant potential for applying TEG also conducted numerical analysis to understand the mechani-
system in marine application [3]. cal, thermal and electrical behaviors of realistic thermoelectric
A TEG system consists of thermoelectric modules (array of module device based on finite element modelling. Turenne
thermoelectric material pairs), a hot-side heat extraction sys- et al. [13] had performed a thermomechanical simulation to
tem, a cold-side heat dissipation system or cooling system and evaluate the mechanical stress distribution over thermoelectric

978-1-5090-1546-7/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE 1


module given a temperature gradient. To understand the effects
of contact resistances on TEG system performance, Hogblom
and Andersson [14] had determined the contact resistances
based on their 3D finite element simulation results and exper-
imental measurement data. Transient multiphysics simulation
on thermoelectric module device had been conducted by Li et
al. [15] used for solar energy application. Nevertheless, there
has not been much activities on investigating and defining
guidelines of designing the cold-side heat dissipation system
for TEG system combining thermoelectric simulation and
experimental validation. In this work, the impacts of cooling Fig. 2: Schematic of Thermoelectric module:
system on the performance of thermoelectric module level TEG1-12611-6.0
device are analyzed through experimental investigation and
simulation optimization. Preliminary experimental and numer-
ical investigations on the device with conventional tubed water is independent of clamping force. Thermocouple is used to
cooling plate are conducted. Based on the observations, an measure the temperature and a digital multimeter is used to
effective and optimized water cooling plate is designed to measure the open-circuit voltage of the thermoelectric module.
improve the output performance of module device, which is Cooling water is circulated through the cold plate by a chiller.
TM
examined via Ansys Multiphysics thermoelectric simulation. To characterize the electrical and thermal performance of
module device, a thermoelectric numerical model for accessing
II. E XPERIMENTAL SETUP AND N UMERICAL MODELLING the variables of interest is built, as shown in Fig. 3. The
Fig. 1 shows the experimental test rig and its schematic detailed thermal and electrical properties of every component
diagram for characterizing a thermoelectric module device. of the thermoelectric module device are listed in Table 1.
A commercial Bismuth Telluride (Bi2 T e3 ) thermoelectric Based on the measured experimental data by Sandoz-Rosado
module TEG1-12611-6.0 (56mm × 56mm × 4mm with 126 and Stevens [10], it revealed that the module level Seebeck co-
thermoelectric pairs) from TECTEG is tested in this work efficient, electrical and thermal conductivities are independent
(Fig. 2). An aluminum plate (60mm × 60mm × 7mm) is of temperature due to the contact resistance between device
employed as the outer surface of the exhaust heat exchanger components. As a result, the minimum Seebeck coefficient
that is heated up by a hot plate (Stuart UC150). A conven- and thermal conductivity and maximum electrical resistivity
tional tubed water cooling plate (aluminum base and 2 pass of thermoelectrical material shown in [16] are assigned in
copper tubes) is used to dissipate heat at the cold-side of
thermoelectric module. To maintain good surface contact, the
whole device is held together with a clamp and thermal grease
is applied between the interfaces of aluminum exhaust plate,
thermoelectric module and cold plate. A heavy iron block is
placed on top of device to make sure that the measured data

Fig. 3: Numerical modelling of thermoelectric module device


with traditional tubed water cooling plate

TABLE I: Thermal and electrical properties of every


component of TE module package
Thermal Electrical Seebeck
Component Material conductivity resistivity coefficient
W m−1 C −1 Ωm V C −1
Al exhaust plate Al 237 - -
Ceramic cover Al2 O3 31 - -
Cu plate/wire Cu 401 1.69e-8 -
Cold plate base Al 237 - -
Fig. 1: Thermoelectric module device test rig and its Cold flow path Cu 401 - -
schematic diagram P/N leg Bi2 T e3 [16] [16] [16]

2
the numerical modelling. Taking into account the ohmic heat-
ing and thermoelectric conversion, the commercial software
TM
ANSYS Multiphysics thermoelectric system is employed to
5 T=120oC
solve the electric charge and energy equations using the finite T=180oC
element method. The measured temperatures at the bottom T=225oC

of aluminum exhaust plate and the cooling water are used 4


as the boundary conditions for the temperature field in the

Current (A)
simulation. The electrical voltage, current and output power 3
characteristics are examined for different electrical loads. To
verify the simulation results, the comparison of open circuit 2
voltage at various temperature differences is made with the
experimental results.
1

III. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSIONS


0
Maintaining the cooling water at 25o C by a chiller, the 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
performance of thermoelectric module device is experimen- Voltage (V)
tally tested for various hot-side temperatures of aluminum
exhaust plate. To avoid damaging the thermoelectric module, Fig. 5: Electrical voltage-current curves at ΔT =120o C,
the maximum temperature of exhaust plate is set as 250o C 180o C and 225o C across thermoelectrical module device.
which is lower than its maximum operating temperature of
320o C. Under the same temperature conditions, the thermo-
electric simulation analysis have been performed to examine
the thermal and electrical behavior of the device. At various 8
temperature differences between aluminum exhaust plate and T=120oC
7 T=180oC
cooling water, Fig. 4 presents the open-circuit voltage output T=225oC
of the module device through experimental measurement and 6
numerical calculation. Since the magnitude of the voltage
generated is proportional to the applied temperature gradient, 5
Power (W)

a linear relationship between open-circuit voltage and temper- 4


ature difference can be observed and the simulation results
are in a good agreement with experimental measurement. 3
Therefore, the employed numerical modelling can be used to 2

0
6.5 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Experiment Voltage (V)
6.0 Simulation

Fig. 6: Electrical voltage-output power curves at ΔT =120o C,


Open circuit Voltage (V)

5.5
180o C and 225o C across thermoelectrical module device.
5.0

4.5

4.0
predict the performance of thermoelectric module device with
good accuracy.
3.5 By varying the electrical load, further simulation analysis
3.0
is conducted to investigate the electrical characteristics for
maximum power output of module device. Fig. 5 and 6
2.5 show the voltage-current and voltage-output power curves at
100 125 150 175 200 225 250
temperature difference of 120o C, 180o C and 225o C. It is
T (oC)
observed that the current characteristic is inversely proportion-
al to voltage with a negative linear relationship. The higher
Fig. 4: Comparison of Open-circuit voltage output of the temperature difference means the higher the open circuit
thermoelectric module device at various temperature voltage as well as the higher the short circuit current. From
difference between experimental measurement and the voltage-output power curve, it is possible to see that the
simulation analysis maximum output power is obtained when the load voltage is

3
T=120oC
5
T=180oC
T=225oC
Tubed cold plate
4

Current (A)
3

Fig. 7: Temperature distribution of thermoelectric module 1

device at ΔT =225o C (aluminum base of cold pate and


ceramic cover of thermoelectric module are hidden for 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
visualization of internal temperature field)
Voltage (V)

half of the open-circuit voltage for any temperature difference. Fig. 9: Electrical Voltage-current curves at various
To investigate the impacts of cold-side heat dissipation temperature difference for thermoelectric module device with
system, the temperature field for the module device is ana- new flat groove and plate design.
lyzed to evaluate the cooling efficiency of conventional tubed
water cooling plate at temperature difference ΔT =225o C. As
shown in Fig.7 (aluminum base of cold plate and ceramic
cover of thermoelectric module are hidden for visualization 8
T=120oC
of internal temperature field), the temperature at the cold T=180oC
7 T=225oC
side of thermoelectric elements is not evenly distributed. The Tubed cold plate
thermoelectric pairs under cooling tube have the same cooling 6
water temperature. Comparatively, the uncovered thermoelec-
5
Power (W)

tric pairs have higher temperature due to the thermal resistance


of the aluminum base of cold plate. This uneven distribution of 4
temperature differences among the thermoelectric pairs leads
3
to reduced overall power output and conversion efficiency of
module device. 2
For improving the cooling efficiency, a new cold plate with
embedded flat groove is designed to fully cover all the thermo- 1

electric pairs. Considering the same temperature difference of 0


ΔT =225o C, Fig. 8 shows the temperature distribution of new 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Voltage (V)

Fig. 10: Electrical Voltage-output power curves at various


temperature difference for thermoelectric module device with
new flat groove and plate design.

module device. It can be seen that an even temperature field


is obtained over the cold-side of the thermoelectric module,
and the temperature is same as the temperature of cooling
water. To quantify the performance improvement, the electrical
output characteristics of the new device are shown in Fig. 9
and 10. Even though voltage and current maintain the same
negative linear relationship; a slight increase in output current
is found for new module device. Regarding the maximum
output power, for new module device, it increases 2.7%
Fig. 8: Temperature distribution of thermoelectric module from 7.435W to 7.63W comparing with traditional tubed
device with new cold plate design at ΔT =225o C. one at ΔT =225o C (Fig. 10). Considering the TEG system

4
tailed information about the voltage, current flow and relevant
Joule effects within thermoelectric module. Fig.11 to Fig.13
show the voltage, current density and Joule heat distribution at
maximum power point with ΔT =225o C for the new module
device. As seen from Fig.11, the electric voltage increases
linearly from negative lead to positive one since thermoelectric
elements are connected electrically in series. In Fig. 12,
the peak total current density is located at the thin copper
layers of thermoelectric module because of its higher electrical
conductivity compared the thermoelectric materials(refer Table
1). Consequently, the thermoelectric material pairs with much
larger resistivity subject to the maximum Joule heat or ohmic
heat as illustrated in Fig.13. Those information and results are
Fig. 11: Electrical voltage contour within thermoelectric crucial for the reliability study and mechanical stress analysis
module at maximum power point with ΔT =225o C of TEG system [13] which are out of scope of this work.

IV. C ONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

Numerical and experimental investigation on thermoelectric


module level device have been performed to examine the
impacts of cold-side heat dissipation system on the overall
performance of TEG system used for marine waste heat
recovery. The thermal and electrical performance of the ther-
moelectric module device with traditional tubed cold plate and
optimized embedded flat groove cold plate have been studied
and compared in detail. From those results and discussion, it
can be concluded that:
a) The measured output open-circuit voltage increases lin-
Fig. 12: Current density within thermoelectric module at early with applied temperature gradient across thermoelectric
maximum power point with ΔT =225o C module device.
b) For various temperature difference, the electrical current
is inversely proportional to voltage with a negative linear
relationship; the maximum power outputs when the load
voltage is half of the open-circuit voltage.
c) The new proposed cold plate with embedded flat groove
is more effective for cooling than traditional tubed one. At
ΔT =225o C, 2.7% increase in maximum output power is ob-
tained using the new cooling system. This slight improvement
on module level performance could significantly improve the
overall output in a system level.
d) The details of potential, current density and Joule heat
fields within the thermoelectric module could be useful for
the reliability study and mechanical stress analysis of TEG
system.
Fig. 13: Joule heat within thermoelectric module at
maximum power point with ΔT =225o C e) The simulation tools employed in this work is capable to
predict TEG performance in a system level.
Further work will focus on the system level performance
which consists of hundreds of thermoelectric modules, a slight prediction and experimental measurement of TEG with im-
improvement on module level performance could significantly proved cold-side heat dissipation system.
improve the overall output for the system. This investigations
and studies indicate that a local effective heat dissipation ACKNOWLEDGMENT
system is important for high efficiency TEG system level
implementation. This study was conducted within Nanyang Technological
Besides the output electrical performance and temperature University with support from the National Research foundation
prediction, thermoelectric simulation analysis also provide de- (NRF) Singapore under the Corp Lab@Universtiy Scheme.

5
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