Coupled Thermal-Electrical Simulations on Thermoelectric Power Generation Using Rectangular-Fin Elements

摘要

Two-dimensional simulations on thermoelectric power generation using rectangular-fin elements were conducted to obtain detailed temperature and electric potential fields in the elements, and to compare the results with those by a one-dimensional theory. Numerically predicted power density and conversion efficiency agreed well with those predicted by the one-dimensional theory at a small ratio of the element height to thickness, H/t<3.5, and surprisingly showed better performance at H/t>4.0. This was caused by a decrease of the thermal conductance of the rectangular-fin element at H/t>4.3, which was not predicted by the one-dimensional theory. The ratio of electrical power to pumping power was maintained at more than one by reducing the mass flow rate even when the module is scaled down.