ICT2014 Abstracts

Thermoelectric generator (TEG) operated thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is a highly compatible combination for meeting low-cooling power demand. The conventional TEG-TEC combined system encounters low operating efficiency and provides low cooling power because, maximum power output from the TEG was not fully utilized. In this paper, a better technique of deploying the thermoelectric power generated in a TEG operated TEC is explored. The thermoelectric power produced by the TEG can be maximized by shifting its normal operating point to its maximum power point by Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique. A DC/DC Buck converter with Perturb and Observe (P&O) MPPT algorithm is used in this study to evaluate the performance of the combined system. Theoretical model of this study is developed in MATLAB & Simulink environment and analysed for various operating conditions. A typical result shows that, with the proposed technique, when the hot junction of TEG and the cold junction of TEC is kept at a temperature difference of 150K and 10K respectively, the power output of TEG increased from 34.1 W to 59.3 W, cooling power of TEC increased from 47.5 W to 59.2 W, Power conversion efficiency of TEG increased from 2.54% to 5.07% and the overall combined system efficiency increased from 3.53% to 5.07% respectively as compared with normal operation. With the advancements in thermoelectric materials, the figure of merit of TEG and TEC is likely to increase and it will further improve the efficiency of combined system.