ICT2014 Abstracts

Integrating thermoelectric generator (TEG) cooling unit into engine cooling system has advantages including energy conservation, space-saving and no additional mechanical parts for automotive application. Based on the performance parameters of engine and thermoelectric modules, three different configurations of TEG cooling units called plate-shape, stripe-shape and diamond-shape are constructed. The fluid dynamics simulations of cooling units and heat transfer coupled with the performances of the circulating coolant and are developed. The velocity, pressure and temperature fields of the coolant are presented and the relation of velocity of flow and heat transfer coefficient, velocity of flow and flow pressure drop is confirmed. Simulation and experiment results show that the TEG using the stripe-shaped cooling unit achieves a relatively ideal performance. In the end, the improvement measures are proposed to optimize the cooling system providing guidelines for future research.