Stud
y
on A
pp
lication of Thermoelectric Generation Technolo
gy
Qin Wang, Fenglin Wang and Yuxin Yang
1
City College, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430083, China
E-mail ：
Keywords: Thermoelectric generation, Seebeck effect, performance test.
Abstract: Thermoelectric generation, which can covert thermal energy to electrical directly, is a green, energy saving
and environmentally friendly technology. Based on Seebeck effect, a simple thermoelectric generator was
designed in this paper by using Bi
2
Te
2
thermoelectric material. In order to study the performance of
thermoelectric generator, experiments were done in the case of cold end temperature was independent
controlled and was not independent controlled in the paper. When the cold end temperature was controlled,
the generation efficiency was improved. The test conclusion has important significance in improvement and
industry application of the thermoelectric generator.
1 INTRODUCTION
Thermoelectric generation technology is a green,
energy conservation and environment protection
technology. Thermoelectric generation can convert
thermal energy to electric energy directly without
consumption and emission (ZHAO Jian-yun, ZHU
Dong-sheng, ZHOU Ze-guang et al, 2010). The
working principle of this technology is Seebeck effect
of thermoelectric materials. When the temperature of
two kinds of semiconductors is different, the two
semiconductors can produce direct current after being
interconnected. Then the thermal energy is converted
to electricity without additional electricity energy
(CHEN Wei-wei, ZHANG Rui, WANG Jian-zhong,
2013).
As present the green power generation means are
mainly solar photovoltaic power generation,
hydropower, wind power and so on. But these power
generation methods are heavily reliant on
environment, and there will be great energy loss
during the power generation. Thermoelectric
generation technology is not restricted by
environment and doesn’t need energy conversion
process. So, this technology is of much greater value
on research and application (WEI Jie-ting etc, 2010)
(CHEN Lin-gen, MENG Fan-kai, SUN Feng et al,
2013).
2 THE SEEBECK EFFECT
German scientist Seebeck discovered the Seebeck
effect in 1821. Two different metals are joined
together at first. When one of the metal is in high
temperature
1
T (hot end) and the other is in low
temperature
2
T (cold end), there is an open circuit
voltage at the cold end. This phenomenon is known
as the Seebeck effect (figure 1).
Figure 1: Illustrative diagram of the Seebeck effect.
If the temperature of hot end and cold end is
maintained at
1
T and
2
T （
12
TT> ）respectively,
there is a potential difference in the open position of
the conductor, and the value is:
()
12AB AB
UTT α Δ= −
(1)
Wang, Q., Wang, F. and Yang, Y.
Study on Application of Thermoelectric Generation Technology.
In 3rd International Conference on Electromechanical Control Technology and Transportation (ICECTT 2018), pages 63-66
ISBN: 978-989-758-312-4
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
63

In the type (1),
AB
α is the relative Seebeck
coefficient of two conductors of A and B.
A
BAB
ααα =−
. The unit of
AB
α is
VK
μ
.
3 DESIGN OF
THERMOELECTRIC
GENERATOR
Two different types of P and N semiconductor
thermoelectric materials are in series by deflector
with high electrical conductivity at first. The
semiconductor thermoelectric generator can be got
after the deflector is fixed on the ceramic plate. When
the temperature of thermoelectric generator both ends
is different, and the high temperature and low
temperature is kept at
1
T and
2
T separately, there
will be a voltage. If there is load resistance in the
circuit, there will be electric current.
3.1 Design of thermoelectric generator
cold end
As shown in Fig. 2, 1 is the aluminium alloy shell.
The thermal conductivity of shell is good. Then heat
can be transmitted to the hot end much faster, and the
cooling of cold end will be accelerated. 2 is storage
battery, which can store electricity up for flexible use.
3 is voltage stabilizing module, which can ensure the
stability of output voltage. 4 is thermoelectric
generator module. Many of the semiconductor
thermoelectric generators are joined together by
series-parallel connection. Then the thermoelectric
generator module is got. The number and the series-
parallel connection can be adjusted according to the
demand of output current voltage and the shape of
thermoelectric generator. 5 is heat-transfer silicone
grease, which makes the connection between the
semiconductor thermoelectric generator both ends
and the shell much better. And the heat conduction
efficiency will be high. 6 is the output interface. The
standardized output interface is conducive to flexible
use of the energy storage (YANG Su-wen, XIAO
Heng, OU Qiang, et al, 2012).
Figure 2: The structure of cold end.
3.2 Design of thermoelectric generator
hot end
As shown in Fig. 3, which is structure of the
thermoelectric generator hot end. The structure of
thermoelectric generator hot end is similar to the
structure of thermoelectric generator cold end. The
only difference of hot end and cold end structure is 7,
which is a layer of insulating material. This material
can ensure the normal work of the battery, voltage
stability and output module when the heat comes
from hot end.
Figure 3: The structure of hot end.
3.3 The simple thermoelectric
generator
The Seebeck coefficient of various materials are
measured through tests, as shown in table 1:
Table 1: The Seebeck coefficient of common
thermoelectric materials
Material
Seebeck coefficient
（μV/K）
Impurity
type
Bi
2
Te
2
260 P
-270 N
Sb
2
Te
3
133 P
Bi
2
Se
3
-77 N
PbTe 380 P
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
ICECTT 2018 - 3rd International Conference on Electromechanical Control Technology and Transportation
64

-320 N
Si
0.8
Ge
0.2
540 P
B
4
C 250 P
The high cost performance Bi
2
Te
2
is chosen as
thermoelectric materials of the thermoelectric
generator through experiments. The simple
thermoelectric generator is got by making series
between two semiconductor thermoelectric generator
pills. The output voltage is 3.01 V and the current is
0.07 A of the semiconductor thermoelectric generator
when the hot end temperature is 115℃ and the cold
end temperature is 51.9℃。
4 PERFORMANCE TESTS
There are two tests to study the performance of
semiconductor thermoelectric generator (LI Ying-lin,
HUANG Hu, 2011). The two tests are the cold end
temperature be not independent controlled test and
the cold end temperature be independent controlled
test (XIAO Zhe-peng, WU Wen-ge, FENG Xia,
2014) (WANG Chang-hong, LI Na, LIN Tao, et al,
2016) (WANG Chang-hong, LIN Tao, ZENG Zhi-
huan, 2014).
4.1 Voltage admeasurement test of the
cold end temperature be not
independent controlled
The output voltage of different temperature
difference is showed in Fig. 4, which is obtained by
heating the hot end directly while the cold end
temperature is not fixed. The temperature difference
between cold end and hot end is measured by
electronic thermoscope.
Figure 4: The output voltage with different temperature
differences
From Fig. 4, the output voltage increases as the
temperature difference increases. When the
temperature difference reaches the maximum, the
output voltage will reach the maximum value. The
larger the temperature difference is, the more
obviously the voltage will increase with the
increasing of temperature difference.
Therefore, the power generation efficiency can be
improved by increasing the temperature difference
between the hot end and the cold end.
4.2 Voltage admeasurement test of the
cold end temperature be
independent controlled
The output voltage is showed in Fig.5, which is
obtained by changing the cold end temperature while
the hot end temperature is fixed.
Figure 5: the voltage output with different temperature of
the cold end
As shown in Fig.5, with the same temperature of
hot end, the voltage reduces when the temperature of
cold end rises. In the case of the same temperature
difference, the higher voltage can be obtained when
the temperature of cold end is lower. The reason for
the phenomenon is that the resistance of the
semiconductor thermoelectric generator film
increases when the temperature of cold end rises.
So, the higher temperature difference power
generation efficiency can be obtained by reducing the
temperature of cold end during the application.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a simple and easy thermoelectric
generator device is made by using the high cost
2,98
3,00
3,02
3,04
3,06
3,08
20,1 25,7 57,8 67,8 70,0
Temperature difference（℃）
Output voltage（V）
2,90
3,00
3,10
3,20
3,30
3,40
3,50
3,60
10 30 50 70
Temperature of cold end（℃）
Output voltage（V）
Hot end 80℃ Hot end 90℃
Hot end 100℃ Hot end 110℃
Study on Application of Thermoelectric Generation Technology
65

performance Bi
2
Te
2
as thermoelectric materials.
When the temperature of cold end is independent
controlled, the efficiency of power generation will be
improved. There is great research value for the
improvement and industrial low-grade waste heat
utilization of the power generation device.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks the sponsors of this international conference
to provide us a precious academic platform.
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