Characteristic of module failure onthermoelectric generator with constrained al heat sink

 

B.C. Woo, H.W. Lee, B.S. Kim

 

AdvancedMaterials & Application Research Laboratory, Korea ElectrotechnologyResearch Institute, 28-1 Sungju-dong, Changwon, Korea

 

In the present work, we haveaddressed the possibilities of failure in the thermoelectric module using onroom temperature below 150oC.  The test apparatus of modulefailure made by 3 pieces of Al heat sink, 32 thermoelectric modules and 8pieces of fiber reinforced plastic key. It is shown that the two components ofmodule failure exist in this test apparatus. The one is a single constrainedmodel and the other is double constrained model on the start and end positionof modules.

This research objective is to establish the thermoelectrictechnology on an optimum system design method and efficiency, and costeffective thermoelectric element in order to extract the maximum electric powerfrom a wasted hot water.

This paper is considered in manufacturing a thermoelectricgenerator and characterizing of thermal fatigue properties of thermoelectricmodule with constrained Al heat sink. It was found that the fatigue life ofmodule with double constrained model was more resist than single constrainedmodel.