Development of integrated two-stage thermoelectric generators for large temperature difference

Jun PEI; Liang Liang LI; Da Wei LIU; Bo Ping ZHANG; Yu XIAO; Jing Feng LI

doi:10.1007/s11431-019-9498-y

Development of integrated two-stage thermoelectric generators for large temperature difference

Jun PEI, Liang Liang LI, Da Wei LIU, Bo Ping ZHANG^*, Yu XIAO, Jing Feng LI^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Multi-stage thermoelectric (TE) modules can withstand a large temperature difference and can be used to obtain a high conversion efficiency. In this study, two-stage PbTe/Bi₂Te₃ TE modules were developed with an enhanced efficiency through a comprehensive study of device structure design, module fabrication, and performance evaluation. PbTe-based AgPb_mSbTe_m+2 (abbreviated as LAST) is a typically high ZT material, while the corresponding TE module was rarely reported so far. How to utilize LAST to fabricate high efficiency TE modules therefore remains a central problem. Finite element simulation indicates that the temperature stability of the two-stage module for LAST is better than that of two-segmented module. Compared to Cu, Ni, and Ni-Fe alloys, Co-Fe alloy is an effective metallization layer for PbTe due to its low contact resistance and thin diffusion layer. By sintering a slice of Cu on TE legs, pure tinfoil can be used as a common welding method for mid-temperature TE modules. A maximum efficiency (ηmax) of 9.5% was achieved in the range of 303 to 923 K in an optimized PbTe/Bi₂Te₃ based two-stage module, which was almost twice that of a commercial TE module.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1596-1604
Number of pages	9
Journal	Science China Technological Sciences
Volume	62
Issue number	9
Early online date	19 Apr 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-019-9498-y
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2019
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

It is very grateful to Mr. Jin-cheng Liao at Shanghai Institute of Ceramics for his help on module performance measurement. It is very thankful to HuaBei Cooling Device Co. for providing the single Bi2Te3 TE module using commercial Bi2Te3 materials.

Funding

This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFB0703600) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11474176).

Keywords

conversion efficiency
finite element method
PbTe
thermoelectric
two-stage module

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10.1007/s11431-019-9498-y

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title = "Development of integrated two-stage thermoelectric generators for large temperature difference",

abstract = "Multi-stage thermoelectric (TE) modules can withstand a large temperature difference and can be used to obtain a high conversion efficiency. In this study, two-stage PbTe/Bi2Te3 TE modules were developed with an enhanced efficiency through a comprehensive study of device structure design, module fabrication, and performance evaluation. PbTe-based AgPbmSbTem+2 (abbreviated as LAST) is a typically high ZT material, while the corresponding TE module was rarely reported so far. How to utilize LAST to fabricate high efficiency TE modules therefore remains a central problem. Finite element simulation indicates that the temperature stability of the two-stage module for LAST is better than that of two-segmented module. Compared to Cu, Ni, and Ni-Fe alloys, Co-Fe alloy is an effective metallization layer for PbTe due to its low contact resistance and thin diffusion layer. By sintering a slice of Cu on TE legs, pure tinfoil can be used as a common welding method for mid-temperature TE modules. A maximum efficiency (ηmax) of 9.5% was achieved in the range of 303 to 923 K in an optimized PbTe/Bi2Te3 based two-stage module, which was almost twice that of a commercial TE module.",

keywords = "conversion efficiency, finite element method, PbTe, thermoelectric, two-stage module",

author = "Jun PEI and LI, {Liang Liang} and LIU, {Da Wei} and ZHANG, {Bo Ping} and Yu XIAO and LI, {Jing Feng}",

note = "It is very grateful to Mr. Jin-cheng Liao at Shanghai Institute of Ceramics for his help on module performance measurement. It is very thankful to HuaBei Cooling Device Co. for providing the single Bi2Te3 TE module using commercial Bi2Te3 materials.",

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AU - PEI, Jun

AU - LI, Liang Liang

AU - LIU, Da Wei

AU - ZHANG, Bo Ping

AU - XIAO, Yu

AU - LI, Jing Feng

N1 - It is very grateful to Mr. Jin-cheng Liao at Shanghai Institute of Ceramics for his help on module performance measurement. It is very thankful to HuaBei Cooling Device Co. for providing the single Bi2Te3 TE module using commercial Bi2Te3 materials.

PY - 2019/9/1

Y1 - 2019/9/1

N2 - Multi-stage thermoelectric (TE) modules can withstand a large temperature difference and can be used to obtain a high conversion efficiency. In this study, two-stage PbTe/Bi2Te3 TE modules were developed with an enhanced efficiency through a comprehensive study of device structure design, module fabrication, and performance evaluation. PbTe-based AgPbmSbTem+2 (abbreviated as LAST) is a typically high ZT material, while the corresponding TE module was rarely reported so far. How to utilize LAST to fabricate high efficiency TE modules therefore remains a central problem. Finite element simulation indicates that the temperature stability of the two-stage module for LAST is better than that of two-segmented module. Compared to Cu, Ni, and Ni-Fe alloys, Co-Fe alloy is an effective metallization layer for PbTe due to its low contact resistance and thin diffusion layer. By sintering a slice of Cu on TE legs, pure tinfoil can be used as a common welding method for mid-temperature TE modules. A maximum efficiency (ηmax) of 9.5% was achieved in the range of 303 to 923 K in an optimized PbTe/Bi2Te3 based two-stage module, which was almost twice that of a commercial TE module.

AB - Multi-stage thermoelectric (TE) modules can withstand a large temperature difference and can be used to obtain a high conversion efficiency. In this study, two-stage PbTe/Bi2Te3 TE modules were developed with an enhanced efficiency through a comprehensive study of device structure design, module fabrication, and performance evaluation. PbTe-based AgPbmSbTem+2 (abbreviated as LAST) is a typically high ZT material, while the corresponding TE module was rarely reported so far. How to utilize LAST to fabricate high efficiency TE modules therefore remains a central problem. Finite element simulation indicates that the temperature stability of the two-stage module for LAST is better than that of two-segmented module. Compared to Cu, Ni, and Ni-Fe alloys, Co-Fe alloy is an effective metallization layer for PbTe due to its low contact resistance and thin diffusion layer. By sintering a slice of Cu on TE legs, pure tinfoil can be used as a common welding method for mid-temperature TE modules. A maximum efficiency (ηmax) of 9.5% was achieved in the range of 303 to 923 K in an optimized PbTe/Bi2Te3 based two-stage module, which was almost twice that of a commercial TE module.

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KW - finite element method

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Development of integrated two-stage thermoelectric generators for large temperature difference

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Keywords

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