Thermoelectric Conversion of Waste Heat to Electricity in an IC Engine Powered Vehicle

关键词: DESIGN;    DETECTION;    ELECTRIC POWER;    ELECTRICITY;    ENERGY RECOVERY;    ENGINES;    IMPLEMENTATION;    MONITORS;    THERMOELECTRIC CONVERSION;    THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS;    THERMOELECTRIC MATERIALS;    WASTE HEAT NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1045212
RP-ID  :  None
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1045212
Others  :  TRN: US201215%%177

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来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The thermoelectric generator shorting system provides the capability to monitor and short-out individual thermoelectric couples in the event of failure. This makes the series configured thermoelectric generator robust to individual thermoelectric couple failure. Open circuit detection of the thermoelectric couples and the associated short control is a key technique to ensure normal functionality of the TE generator under failure of individual TE couples. This report describes a five-year effort whose goal was the understanding the issues related to the development of a thermoelectric energy recovery device for a Class-8 truck. Likely materials and important issues related to the utility of this generator were identified. Several prototype generators were constructed and demonstrated. The generators developed demonstrated several new concepts including advanced insulation, couple bypass technology and the first implementation of skutterudite thermoelectric material in a generator design. Additional work will be required to bring this system to fruition. However, such generators offer the possibility of converting energy that is otherwise wasted to useful electric power. Uur studies indicate that this can be accomplished in a cost-effective manner for this application.