ICT2014 Abstracts

The opportunities for creating the most effective thermoelectric (TE) material can be maximized by considering the full system for a given application when developing the material.  If conversion efficiency is the only consideration in the design of a TE material, then maximizing average ZT over the given operating temperature range would be the best choice.  If the system or end application is unknown or not well defined, this design path may also be the best choice.  However, there are more factors that should affect TE material design choice then just maximizing average ZT when considering the system-level attributes of an application.  The following paper demonstrates how other aspects of the design affect how TE material properties (Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, and thermal conductivity) can be tuned to get maximum performance for a given application.  These other aspects include device and system level parasitic losses, including electrical and thermal contact resistance and thermal shorting, and constraints, including pressure drop, voltage, and temperature limitations, along with different design objectives, including efficiency, power, cost, and size.  Simulation results will be provided that demonstrate how a TE material with a lower average ZT can be more effective for a given application than a TE material with a higher average ZT.