ICT2014 Abstracts

The performance evaluation on thermoelectric generator (TEG) module plays an important role in the thermoelectrics.  An elaborate module testing instrument was established in our group to extract the key parameters such as voltage, power, and efficiency. More than 200 modules from various organizations have been measured in this system over the past five years. In this study, three dimensional numerical modeling of TEG module was constructed with COMSOL multiphysics interface, and the testing platform was simulated by combining the heat conduction process, thermoelectric conversion process and heat radiation process. Seebeck effect, Peltier effect and Thomson effect were contained in the thermoelectric conversion mode. We first validate the model by employing the constant materials properties of Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity. Then, the model was extended to simulate the temperature dependent materials properties for both P and N legs. The simulated results like the module voltage, power, heat flow and efficiency were compared with the measured values.