SCIENCE CHINA

Technological Sciences
•Article• December 2020 Vol.63 No.12: 2640–2648
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-019-1518-x

Performance optimization of a class of combined thermoelectric

heating devices
1,2* 3 1,2 1,2 1,2
CHEN LinGen , MENG FanKai , GE YanLin , FENG HuiJun & XIA ShaoJun
1
Institute of Thermal Science and Power Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China;
2
School of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China;
3
College of Power Engineering, Naval University of Engineering, Wuhan 430033, China

Received October 25, 2019; accepted December 31, 2019; published online October 27, 2020

A detailed model of thermally-driven combined thermoelectric (TE) heating device is established. The device consists of two-
stage TE heat pump (TTEH) and two-stage TE generator (TTEG) with four external heat exchangers (HEXs). Both internal
losses and external heat transfer irreversibilities are considered in the model. The heating capacity and the coefficient of
performance (COP) of the device are improved through numerical optimization, which is of great significance to the application
of the device. The distribution of the total TE element number among four TE devices and the distribution of the total external
heat conductance among the four external HEXs are optimized. The results show that both the reservoir temperatures of TTEG
and TTEH have significant influences on the performance and the corresponding optimum parameters of the device. The COP
can reach 0.14 after optimization when the temperature difference of heat source is 150 K and the temperature difference of
heating is 10 K.
thermoelectric generator, thermoelectric heat pump, combined thermoelectric device, heat transfer, finite time thermo-
dynamics, performance optimization

Citation: Chen L G, Meng F K, Ge Y L, et al. Performance optimization of a class of combined thermoelectric heating devices. Sci China Tech Sci, 2020, 63:
2640–2648, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-019-1518-x

1 Introduction when it works with a large temperature difference. There-

Seebeck effect and Peltier effect provide a theoretical basis
for the applications for thermoelectric (TE) power generation
and refrigeration [1]. With the increasingly serious en-
vironmental pollution and energy crisis, it is of great prac-
tical significance to study the performances TE devices. The
non-equilibrium thermodynamics (NET) is basic theory to
study the thermodynamic performance of TE generators
(TEG), TE refrigerators (TER) and TE heat pumps (TEH).
Single stage TER can reach a temperature difference of
about 70 K. It cannot achieve larger temperature difference,
and the coefficient of performance (COP) rapidly decreases
*Corresponding author (email: lingenchen@hotmail.com, lgchenna@yahoo.com)
fore, in order to achieve larger temperature difference, two-
stage or multi-stage TER is used. A large number of scholars
have studied the two-stage TE generators (TTEG) [2–6],
two-stage TE refrigerators (TTER) [7–17] and two-stage TE
heat pumps (TTEH) [18] by using the NET theory.
However, these studies did not give enough attention to the
external heat transfer (HT) of TE devices. Finite time ther-
modynamic (FTT) theory [19–34], which mainly studies the
law of energy flow of system in finite time and/or finite size,
is a new branch of modern thermodynamics theory. It has its
own distinctive theoretical features and has been widely used
in many fields such as physics, chemistry and engineering
thermal physics, etc. FTT has been applied for heat exchange
process [35], mass transfer processes [36–39], organic

© Science China Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020 tech.scichina.com link.springer.com
 Chen L G, et al. Sci China Tech Sci
Rankine cycle [40], Otto cycle [41], Maisotsenko-Brayton
cycle [42], Maisotsenko-Diesel cycle [43], Dual-Miller cycle
[44,45], Kalina cycle [46], energy selective electron devices
[47,48], gas turbine-based combined heat and power plant
[49], chemical reaction processes [50–54], fuel cell-TEG
hybrid system [55], absorption heat pump cycle [56], quan-
tum heat engines [57,58], quantum refrigeration cycle [59],
and quantum heat pump cycle [60]. FTT has been also ap-
plied for the performance analyses and optimization of var-
ious single- and two-stage TE devices [61], including single-
stage TEG [62–82], TER [83–90], TEH [91–100], and TTEG
[101–106], TTER [107–112], TTEH [112–114] with con-
sidering the external HT loss besides various internal irre-
versible effects.
TERs and TEHs are dependent TE devices, that is, they
need a direct-current power source providing direct current
to refrigerate or heat up. However, for some special systems,
such as submarines, cars, and special electric circuit, the heat
rejected from the thermal machine may drive a TER or TEH
through the use of a TEG, so that the TER or TEH does not
need a special power source. A combined TE device is a TER
driven by a TEG (TEG-TER) or a TEH driven by a TEG
(TEG-TEH). The TEG uses low grade heat energy or solar
energy to generate DC power and drives the TER (or TEH)
placed in another space to achieve refrigeration (or heating)
effect. Combined TE devices have unique application value
in automotive electronics, medical devices and aerospace
and other fields. Khattab et al. [115], Chen et al. [116], Meng
et al. [117] and Feng et al. [118,119] studied the single-stage
combined TE system based on NET without considering the
HT irreversibility of external heat exchangers (HEXs).
Considering the HT irreversibility of external HEX further,
Meng et al. [120,121] and Feng et al. [122] optimized the
allocations of TE couples and thermal conductance of a
TTER driven by a TTEG, and analyzed the influences of key
temperatures on the performance by combining the FTT
theory with the NET theory.
Chen et al. [123] established the exoreversible model of a
class of combined TE heating device, TTEH driven by
TTEG including four TE devices, by using the NET theory
Figure 1 A structure diagram of a TTEG-TTEH.
December (2020) Vol.63 No.12 2641
with considering various internal losses.
The details of the thermodynamic optimization for various
TE devices with NET and FTT theories can be seen in the
review papers by Chen et al. [61] and Pourkiaei et al. [124].
This paper will establish new model of the combined TE
heating device including four TE devices and four HEXs
with internal and external irreversibilities by combining the
FTT theory with the NET theory based on ref. [123]. The
heating capacity and COP performance of the combined TE
heating device will be maximized by optimizing the dis-
tribution of the total TE element number among four TE
devices and the distribution of the total external heat con-
ductance among the four external HEXs. The influences of
the both reservoir temperatures of TTEG and TTEH on the
performance and the corresponding optimum parameters of
the combined heating device will be analysed.
2 Device model with internal and external los-
ses
A structure diagram of the combined TE heating device,
TTEG-TTEH device, is shown in Figure 1. It consists of four
TE devices, two TEG and two TEH. The TTEG and the
TTEH are connected in series electrically. The DC power
source of the TTEH is the electrical current generated by the
TTEG.
According to TE conversion theory [125], for the TTEG,
one has
QH 1 = m 1h ITh1 + K (Th1 Tm1) 0.5I 2R , (1)
Q m1 = m 1h ITm1 + K (Th 1 Tm1) + 0.5I 2R , (2)
Q m1 = m 1c ITm1 + K (Tm1 Tc1) 0.5I 2R , (3)
QL1 = m 1c ITc1 + K (Tm1 Tc1) + 0.5I 2R , (4)
where α is the total Seebeck coefficient of the TE couple. R,
K, I are the electric resistance, thermal conductance of the TE
couple and the current generating from the TE couple, re-
2642 Chen L G, et al. Sci China Tech Sci December (2020) Vol.63 No.12

spectively. m1h and m1c are TE couple’s numbers of the top where
and bottom stage of the TTEG. Th1, Tc1 and Tm1 are the NTm1 = ( Rm 12h 2m 1c Rm 1h 2m 12c)I 4
temperatures of hot junction, cold junction and middle layer,
respectively. Qh1, Qm1 andQc1 are the of heat flux of the ( m 1hm 12cK m 12hKL1 + m 12hm 1cK + KH 1m 12c
junctions of the TTEG. +m 1hKH 1m 1c m 1cm 1hKL1) RI 3
For the TTEH, one has +(m 1cKH 1KL1 + 2m 12hm 1cK 2 + 2m 12hKL1K
QH 2 = m 2h ITh2 K (Th 2 Tm2) + 0.5I 2R , (5) +m 1cKKL1m 1h + m 1hKKH 1m 1c + m 1hKH 1KL1
+2m 1hm 12cK 2 + 2m 12cKH 1K )RI 2
Q m2 = m 2h ITm2 K (Th 2 Tm2) 0.5I 2R , (6) +( 2m 1hKKH1TH1m 1c + 2m 1cKKL1TL1m 1h )I
Q m2 = m 2c ITm2 K (Tm2 Tc2) + 0.5I 2R , (7) +2K (m 1hKKH 1TH 1m 1c + m 1hKH 1TH 1KL1
+m 1cKKL1TL1m 1h + m 1cKL1TL1KH 1), (19)
QL2 = m 2c ITc2 K (Tm2 Tc2) 0.5I 2R . (8) 3
D Tm1 = (2 m 12hm 1c 2 3
m 1hm 12c)I 3
The definitions of symbols in the above equations are si- +[ 2 (m 12hm 1cK + m 12hKL1 + KH1m 12c
2

milar to those for TTEG.

There are four HEXs among the TE devices and the ex- m 1hKH 1m 1c m 1cm 1hKL1 + m 1hm 12cK ))I 2
ternal heat reservoirs. The HT between the TE module and +( 2 ( 2m 1cKKL1m 1h m 1cKH 1KL1
the heat reservoir causes the irreversible HT loss. Con- +2m 1hKKH 1m 1c + m 1hKH1KL1)]I
sidering the HT irreversibility of external HEXs, one has +2K (m 1cKH 1KL1 + m 1cKKL1m 1h
QH 1 = KH1(TH 1 Th1), (9) +m 1hKH 1KL1 + m 1hKKH 1m 1c). (20)
QL1 = KL1(Tc1 TL1), (10) The TTEH temperatures can be obtained by the same
method:
QH 2 = KH 2(Th 2 TH 2), (11)
(KH 2TH 2 + m 2hKTm 2 + 0.5m 2hI 2R)
QL2 = KL2(TL2 Tc2), (12) Th 2 = , (21)
m 2h I m 2hK KH 2
where TH1, TL1, TH2 and TL2 are the temperatures of the four 0.5m 2cRI 2 + m 2cKTm 2 + KL2TL2
heat reservoirs, respectively. TH1, TL1, TH2 and TL2 are the Tc2 = , (22)
m 2cI + m 2cK + KL2
thermal conductance of the HEXs between the TE module
and the heat source, respectively. Tm2 = NTm2 / D Tm2, (23)
The total TE element number of the four TE devices and where
the total thermal conductance of the four HEXs are finite:
M = m 1h + m 1c + m 2h + m 2c, (13) NTm2 = (Rm 22h 2m 2c + Rm 2h 2m 22c)I 4

KT = KH 1 + KL1 + KH 2 + KL2. (14) +[ R( m 2hm 22cK m 22hKL2 + m 22hm 2cK

The difference between the model shown in Figure 1 and
that in ref. [123] is that the four external HEXs were not
taken into account, and the external HT loss was not con-
sidered in ref. [123].
The heating capacity of the device is QH 2 and the COP of
the device is
COP = QH 2 / QH 1. (15)
Th1 can be solved by eqs. (1) and (9):
0.5m 1hI 2R + KH 1TH 1 + m 1hKTm1
Th 1 = . (16)
m 1h I + m 1hK + KH 1
Tc1 can be solved by eqs. (4) and (10):
(m 1cKTm1 + 0.5m 1cI 2R + KL1TL1)
Tc1 = . (17)
m 1c I m 1cK KL1
Combining eqs. (16), (17) with eqs. (2) and (3) yields the
middle layer temperature of the TTEG:
Tm1 = NTm1 / D Tm1,
+KH 2m 22c + m 2hKH 2m 2c m 2cm 2hKL2)]I 3
+( R(2K 2m 22hm 2c + 2Km 22hKL2 + m 2hKH 2KL2
+2K 2m 2hm 22c + m 2cKH 2KL2 + m 2hKKH 2m 2c
+m 2cKKL2m 2h + 2KH 2m 22cK ))I 2
+( 2m 2hKKH 2TH 2m 2c + 2m 2cKKL2TL2m 2h )I
2K (m 2hKKH 2TH 2m 2c + m 2hKH 2TH 2KL2
+m 2cKKL2TL2m 2h + m 2cKL2TL2KH 2), (24)
D Tm2 = (2 3m 22hm 2c 2 3m 2hm 22c)I 3
+[2 2(m 22hm 2cK + m 22hKL2
+KH 2m 22c m 2hKH 2m 2c m 2cm 2hKL2
+m 2hm 22cK )]I 2 + [ 2 ( 2m 2cKKL2m 2h
m 2cKH 2KL2 + 2m 2hKKH 2m 2c + m 2hKH 2KL2)]I
2K (m 2cKH 2KL2 + m 2cKKL2m 2h
+m 2hKH 2KL2 + m 2hKKH 2m 2c). (25)
(18) If the HT irreversibility is neglected, i.e., KT , eqs.
 Chen L G, et al. Sci China Tech Sci December (2020) Vol.63 No.12 2643

(18) and (23) are simplified as function “fmincon” in Matlab Toolbox. Parameters
–4 2 4 –1 –1
0.5m 1cI 2R + 0.5m
1hI
2R + m
1hKTH 1+ m 1cKTL1
α=4.25×10 V/K, k=1.65 W/(m K), σ=9×10 Ω m ,
Tm1 = , (26) 2
A=1×1 mm and L=1 mm are set in the numerical optimi-
m 1c I m 1h I + m 1cK + m 1hK
zation. The K and R are calculated by
0.5m 2cI 2R + 0.5m 2hI 2R + m 2hKTH 2 + m 2cKTL2
Tm2 = . (27)
m 2cK + m 2hK + m 2h I m 2cI K = K p + K n = 2kA / L, (34)
Eqs. (26) and (27) are the major results obtained by NET R = R p + R n = 2L / ( A). (35)
theory [123] taking no account of HT irreversibility of the
external HEXs. The ambient temperatures are set as TL1=300 K and TH2
The equation of heat balance of the system is =300 K. The total external thermal conductance is set as
KT=100 W/K.
QH 1 + QL2 = QL1 + QH 2. (28) At the work conditions of TH1=450 K, TL1=300 K, TH2=
Eq. (28) can be rearranged as an 11 orders polynomial 300 K and TH2=320 K, the optimum variables for maximum
equation: heating capacity are x=0.6475, x1=0.4946, x2=0.5557,
11 f=0.6877, f1=0.5064, f2=0.5364 and I=0.8540 A; those for
A i I i = 0, (29) maximum COP are x=0.4838, x1=0.4890, x2=0.5488,
i =0
f=0.5275, f1=0.4936, f2=0.5335 and I=0.5899. These can be
where A i (i = 1, 2, 3, , 11) are parameters related to TE used as the initial values in the numerical optimization al-
couple (α, K and R) and HT (KH1, KL1, KH2, and KL2). The gorithm.
high order polynomial equation cannot be solved analytically The TTEG heat source temperature and the TTEH heating
but can be numerical solved for given specific parameters. space temperature are the main external influencing factors
of the performance of the combined TE heating device. Thus,
the influences of the two reservoir temperatures on the per-
3 Optimization problem and solving method formance will be analysed, respectively.

Three number ratios are defined to describe the allocations of

finite TE couples. The total TE element number is M=m1= 4 Influence of the heat reservoir temperatures
m1h+m1c+m2h+m2c.
The total TE element number ratio is defined as the ratio of 4.1 Influence of the TTEG heat source temperature
the TTEG TE element number to the total TE number of the The objective functions QH 2 and COP are 7-variables func-
combined device: tions. However, the electrical current in eq. (29) is a high-
x = (m 1h + m 1c) / M . (30) ordered polynomial equation. There is no analytical solution
The TTEG TE element number ratio is defined as the ratio if the equation order is larger than 4. So the explicit solution
of the TE element number of the top stage to that of the of the equation cannot be obtained theoretically. The pro-
TTEG: blem needs to be translated. Take the electrical current eq.
x1 = m 1h / (m 1h + m 1c). (31) (29) as a equality constraint, then the problem is translated
into: how to determine x, x1, x2 f, f1, f2 and I, so that the 7-
The TTEH TE element number is defined as the ratio of
variables objective function reaches the maximum. This
TE element number of the top stage to that of the TTEH:
problem can be solved by Matlab Optimization Toolbox.
x 2 = m 2h / (m 2h + m 2c). (32) The objective functions are set as follows:
Analogously, in order to describe distribution of HT re- max QH 2(x, x1, x 2 , f , f1 , f 2 , I ), (36)
sources among the four HEXs, three thermal conductance
ratios are defined: f=(KH1+KL1)/KT, f1=KH1/(KH1+KL1) and max COP(x, x1, x 2, f , f 1 , f 2 , I ). (37)
f2=KH2/(KH2+KL2). The lower bounds and upper bounds are
It can be seen that the performance QL2 and COP are 6-
lb = [0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ], (38)
variable functions. For maximum heating capacity, the
variables should satisfy ub = [1 11 1 1 1 inf]. (39)
Q H 2 = COP' = 0. (33) The nonlinear inequalities are
The analytical solutions of eq. (33) cannot be obtained. QH 1
0
The polynomial eq. (33) is taken as a constraint. The problem QL1
actually becomes how to determine x, x1, x2 f, f1, f2 and I, so > 0. (40)
QH 2 0
that the 7-variable objective functions reach their respective 0
QL2
maximum. This type of question can be solved by built-in
2644 Chen L G, et al. Sci China Tech Sci December (2020) Vol.63 No.12

Figure 2 shows the optimized and non-optimized perfor-

mance versus the TTEG heat source temperature TH1, re-
spectively. The optimized performances are plotted by solid
lines. The non-optimized performance are calculated at even
distribution, that is, x=x1=x2=f=f1=f2=0.5, and plotted in the
figure by dotted lines. It is found that both QH2 and COP are
improved a lot after optimization. The variable optimization
is needful and useful for any TTEG heat source temperature.
Figures 3–5 show optimum electrical currents, heating
capacity and COP versus the TTEG heat source temperature
TH1. It is found that QH 2,max, Q COP, COPmax, COP Q , I Q and I COP
H2
increase when the TTEG heat source rises. The optimum
ranges increase when the TTEG heat source temperature
Figure 2 Optimized performance (solid lines) and non-optimized per-
rises. This is because when the heat source temperature of the formance (dotted lines) versus the TTEG heat source temperature.
TTEG increases, greater current is output from the TTEG to
the TTEH. Then the heating performance is improved.
Not only the heating capacity, but also the COP should be
as large as possible in the design and operation of the com-
bined TE heating device. However, the two best points
cannot be reached at the same time. Normally, two goals
need to be considered simultaneously. Accordingly, design
variables should satisfy

x COP xQ
x
x1COP x1 x1Q
x 2COP x2 x 2Q
f COP < f < f Q . (41)
f 1COP f1
f 1Q Figure 3 Optimum currents versus the TTEG heat source temperature.
f2 COP f2
COP I f 2Q
I
IQ
With the above parameters, the performance of the com-
bined TE heating device should satisfy

Q HCOP QH 2 Q H 2,max
2 < < . (42)
COP Q COP COPmax

4.2 Influence of the TTEH heating space temperature

Figure 6 shows the optimized and non-optimized perfor-

mance versus the TTEH heating space temperature TH2, re-
spectively. The optimized performances are plotted by solid
lines. The non-optimized heating capacity TH2 and COP are
calculated at even distribution, that is, x=x1=x2=f=f1=f2=0.5,
and plotted in the figure by dotted lines. It can be seen that
both QH2 and COP be improved a lot after optimization. The
COP can reach 0.14 after optimization with TH1=450 K, TL1
=300 K, TH2=300 K and TH2=320 K. The optimization is
useful for any TH2 of TTEH. It is important that the optimized
QH2,max and the optimized COPmax decrease nonlinearly while
these non-optimized linearly when TTEH heating space
Figure 4 Optimum heating capacity versus the TTEG heat source tem-
perature.
temperature TH2 rises. The combined TE heating device is
unable to run when the TTEH heating space temperature
TH2>346 K before optimization. The heat supply temperature
difference is about ΔT2,max=346‒300=46 K. After optimiza-
tion, the maximum heat supply temperature difference is
infinite theoretically, which is attractive for application.
Figures 7–9 show the optimum electrical current, heating
 Chen L G, et al. Sci China Tech Sci
Figure 5 Optimum COP versus the TTEG heat source temperature.
Figure 6 Optimized performance (solid lines) and non-optimized per-
formance (dotted lines) versus the TTEH heating space.
Figure 7 Optimum current versus the TTEH heating space temperature.
capacity and COP versus the TTEH heating space tempera-
Q COP
ture TH2. It is found that I and I increase while QH 2,max,
Q HCOP
2
, COPmax and COP Q decrease when the TTEH heating
space temperature rises. The optimum ranges decrease when
the TTEH heating space temperature rises. This is because
when the heating space temperature of the TTEH rises,
higher performance of the TTEG is required. If the working
conditions of the TTEG are not changed correspondingly, the
performance of the TTEH will be reduced.
December (2020) Vol.63 No.12 2645
Figure 8 Optimum heating capacity versus the TTEH heating space
temperature.
Figure 9 Optimum COP versus the TTEH heating space temperature.
5 Conclusions
A detailed model of a novel thermally-driven combined TE
heating device, TTEH driven by TTEG with internal and
external HT irreversibilities, is established in this paper. The
heating capacity and the COP are optimized. The major
conclusions are as follows.
(1) There exist optimal distribution of the total TE element
number among four TE devices and the optimal distribution
of the total external heat conductance among the four ex-
ternal HEXs leading to the maximum heating capacity and
the maximum COP of the combined TE heating device, re-
spectively.
(2) The heating capacity and COP of the combined TE
heating device are greatly improved through numerical op-
timization, which is of great significance to the application of
the combined TE heating device. The COP can reach 0.14
after optimization.
(3) Both the TTEG heat source temperature and TTEH
heating space temperature have significant influence on the
performance and the corresponding optimum parameters of
the combined TE heating device.
(4) FTT theory should be applied in the performance
analysis and optimization of the combined TE heating device
2646 Chen L G, et al. Sci China Tech Sci
by combing the NET theory, because it can consider the
internal and the external losses inside the TE devices and in
the external HEXs. The model established herein is more
close to the practical devices.
(5) This kind of combined TE device has no advantage if
the comparison between this hybrid system and other
available literatures is only the performance index COP.
However, this special structure can realize the heating
function without power supply. It can also make full use of
waste heat and other heat resources. Therefore, this in-
novative structure is still of special use.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant Nos. 11974429 and 51576207), and the Natural Science
Foundation of Naval University of Engineering (Grant No. 20161505).
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