TY - JOUR
T1 - Performance optimization of thermoelectric generators designed by multi-objective genetic algorithm
AU - Chen, Wei Hsin
AU - Wu, Po Hua
AU - Lin, Yu Li
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, ROC , under the grant number MOST 106-2622-E-006-024-CC3 and the Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan, ROC , for this research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - The purpose of this study is to investigate the output power and efficiency of a TEG system using waste heat from heat pipes, and then optimize its performance. The TEG material is Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 and its figure-of-merit (ZT) is 1.18 at room temperature. The predictions indicate that a longer length of the elements has greater power output and efficiency based on a fixed heat flux on the hot side surface, whereas a shorter length has greater output power based on a fixed temperature difference. The geometry of the TEG is designed through a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) to maximize its efficiency. When the temperature difference is fixed at 40 °C, the output power and efficiency of the TEG with optimization is increased by about 51.9% and 5.4%, compared to the TEG without optimization. Once the impedance matching, namely, the internal resistance is equal to the external load resistance, is used, the output power can be further enhanced by about 3.85–4.40%. When the heat flux is fixed at 20,000 Wm−2 along with the temperature difference of 40 °C, the output power and efficiency of a pair of elements can be increased to 7.99 mW and 9.52%, respectively. These results are much higher than those reported in other studies. Accordingly, it is concluded that the MOGA is a powerful tool to design the geometry of a TEG for maximizing its performance and real applications in industry.
AB - The purpose of this study is to investigate the output power and efficiency of a TEG system using waste heat from heat pipes, and then optimize its performance. The TEG material is Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 and its figure-of-merit (ZT) is 1.18 at room temperature. The predictions indicate that a longer length of the elements has greater power output and efficiency based on a fixed heat flux on the hot side surface, whereas a shorter length has greater output power based on a fixed temperature difference. The geometry of the TEG is designed through a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) to maximize its efficiency. When the temperature difference is fixed at 40 °C, the output power and efficiency of the TEG with optimization is increased by about 51.9% and 5.4%, compared to the TEG without optimization. Once the impedance matching, namely, the internal resistance is equal to the external load resistance, is used, the output power can be further enhanced by about 3.85–4.40%. When the heat flux is fixed at 20,000 Wm−2 along with the temperature difference of 40 °C, the output power and efficiency of a pair of elements can be increased to 7.99 mW and 9.52%, respectively. These results are much higher than those reported in other studies. Accordingly, it is concluded that the MOGA is a powerful tool to design the geometry of a TEG for maximizing its performance and real applications in industry.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.10.094
DO - 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.10.094
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85032686581
SN - 0306-2619
VL - 209
SP - 211
EP - 223
JO - Applied Energy
JF - Applied Energy
ER -