ICT2014 Abstracts

Traditional thermoelectric power generator consists of thermocouples connected electrically in series and thermally in parallel.  Electrical current  inside the thermoelectric power generator is regarded to be combined effects by the Seebeck effect-induced electric field and the output voltage-induced reverse electric field.  These make the thermoelectric power generator to behave as a voltage-source.  We propose a more comprehensive model where current is also found to be driven by chemical potential and carrier density variations. Therefore, the thermoelectric power generator can be an electrical current-source power supply when the current is dominated by carrier density variations. This paper firstly presents a new mathematical model to determine the conditions where the thermoelectrical generator behaves as a current source. Bismuth telluride (Bi₂Te₃) is assumed in the finite element simulation. A new power generator structure design is proposed where thermocouples are connected parallel both electrically and thermally.  This ensures the carrier density variations dominate its performance. Comparisons are conducted on the energy efficiencies of the voltage-source generator in traditional structure and the current-source in newly proposed structure. Suggestions to improve the power efficiency are provided.  Advantages of the current-source thermoelectric power generator are discussed from the results of computational simulations.