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Design and Development of Thermoelectric Generator

Article · March 2014

DOI: 10.1063/1.4872698

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 Design and development of thermoelectric generator
D. S. Prem Kumar, Ishan Vardhan Mahajan, R. Anbalagan, and Ramesh Chandra Mallik

Citation: AIP Conference Proceedings 1591, 628 (2014); doi: 10.1063/1.4872698

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4872698
View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/proceeding/aipcp/1591?ver=pdfcov
Published by the AIP Publishing

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 Design and Development of Thermoelectric Generator
Prem Kumar D S, Ishan Vardhan Mahajan, Anbalagan R and Ramesh Chandra
Mallik*

Thermoelectric materials and Devices Laboratory, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore-560012, India
*
Email: rcmallik@physics.iisc.ernet.in

Abstract. In this paper we discuss the fabrication, working and characteristics of a thermoelectric generator made up of
p and n type semiconductor materials. The device consists of Fe0.2Co3.8Sb11.5Te0.5 (zT = 1.04 at 818 K) as the n-type and
Zn4Sb3 (zT=0.8 at 550 K) as the p-type material synthesized by vacuum hot press method. Carbon paste has been used to
join the semiconductor legs to metal (Molybdenum) electrodes to reduce the contact resistance. The multi-couple (4
legs) generator results a maximum output power of 1.083 mW at a temperature difference of 240 K between the hot and
cold sides. In this investigation, an I-V characteristic, maximum output power of the thermoelectric module is presented.
The efficiency of thermoelectric module is obtained as η = 0.273 %.

Keywords: Figure of merit, Contact Resistance, Thermoelectric energy conversion.

PACS: 84.60.BK, 73.40.Cg, 84.60.Rb.

INTRODUCTION EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

The principle behind the working of the
thermoelectric generators is the Seebeck effect [1], a
potential is generated when a temperature difference is
maintained across the junctions of two different
materials. The figure of merit of a thermoelectric
material at a temperature T is given as-
S2 (1)
zT = T
κρ
Where, S is the Seebeck coefficient, ρ is the
electrical resistivity and κ is the thermal conductivity
of the material. Thermoelectric generators have been
specifically used for niche applications like the deep
space missions conducted by NASA namely Voyager
I, Voyager II, Mars Curiosity Rover etc. In such
missions cost is a secondary factor as compared to the
stability, robustness and the ability of such devices to
run without any maintenance for long periods of time.
To make use of thermoelectric generators in practical
applications like waste heat recovery in automobiles
and industries, there is a need to improve their
efficiency and to make them more economical by
using smart materials. In this paper we present and
discuss the working, fabrication and the characteristics
of a thermoelectric generator.
The synthesis of n-type Fe0.2Co3.8Sb11.5Te0.5 [5]
and p-type Zn4Sb3 [6] were done by solid state
synthesis method by using Co, Sb, Zn, Fe, Te
elements. Vacuum hot press was used to pelletize
these compounds. Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-
Ray Diffraction, and Electron Probe Micro Analysis
was performed to characterize and verify the phase.
Hot Probe method was used to confirm the type of
majority charge carriers in the thermoelectric legs.
Construction of a Thermoelectric
Generator
The construction of a basic thermoelectric
generator consists of a p and n type semiconductor
legs shown in the figure 1. They are joined thermally
in parallel and electrically in series to a metal electrode
using a thermally and electrically conductive adhesive.
Thermoelectric generator consist of a p-type (Zn4Sb3)
and n-type (Fe0.2Co3.8Sb11.5Te0.5) material. They were
cut into cuboidal shapes by the use of circular diamond
saw and higher grade abrasive paper to make them into
the desired dimensions, (6.8×2×4) mm. 99.9% pure
molybdenum was used as electrodes. Thermally and
electrically conductive carbon paste is used to join the
legs to molybdenum electrodes. The generator is

Solid State Physics

AIP Conf. Proc. 1591, 628-630 (2014); doi: 10.1063/1.4872698
© 2014 AIP Publishing LLC 978-0-7354-1225-5/$30.00

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 clamped between two stainless steel plates having the values of RL. The corresponding values current, I and
dimensions (35×35) mm to provide mechanical power, P are calculated using above relations.
stability. Mica sheet was used to provide electrical
insulation between the metal electrodes and stainless 24 94
steel plates. Finally the device is baked at 150° C for 2 ΔT=80 K 92
hours to cure the carbon paste. 22 VO=30 mV 90
20 88
The temperature difference was maintained by the 86
18 84
use of Liquid Nitrogen on one side of the device and a 82

P (μW)
VL (V)
heater on the other side. The current-voltage (I-V) and 16 80
power characteristics for uni-couple (2 legs) and multi- 78
14 76
couple (4 legs) have been presented and discussed.
VL 74
12
VL(th) 72
10 P 70
P(th) 68
8 66
2 4 6 8

I (mA)

FIGURE 2.Comparison of experimental and theoretical

values of I-V and output power characteristics at ¨T=80 for
Multi-couple (4 legs) system.

1200
FIGURE 1. The Image of assemble thermoelectric ΔT=240 K Pmax_4-leg
generator. 1100 Pmax_2-leg

1000
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 900
P (μ W)

Figure (2) shows that the comparison of the plots for 800
experimental and theoretical values of load voltage 700
and power as a function current in the case of multi- 600
couple (4 legs). The hot side (T1) and cold side (T2)
500
temperatures are fixed throughout the experiment,
hence constant temperature difference (οT=80 K) is 400
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
maintained. The open circuit voltage, VO is obtained to
be 30 mV. I (mA)
Theoretical values of load voltage, VL (th) was
calculated for different load resistance RL by knowing FIGURE 3. Comparison of output power of uni-couple (2
the open circuit voltage VO, internal resistance Rint of legs) and multi-couple (4 legs) at ¨T=240 K.
the device and by using the relation (2) [2]
At ¨T=240 K an open circuit voltage, VO output
RL
VL = VO . (2) of 66.8 mV for unicouple and 108 mV for multi-
( RL + Rint ) couple (4 legs) was obtained and the maximum output
The corresponding values of current, I(th) and power, power was calculated using equations (2), (3) and (4)
P(th) are calculated by using relations (3) and (4). thus, giving Pmax=0.586 mW for unicouple and
Pmax=1.083 mW for multi-couple systems. The graph
for both the cases has been shown in Figure (3).
VL
I= (3) The total resistance of the module, Rmod is
RL given below
P = I .VL (4) ρ nl ρ pl
Rmod = Rlegs + Rc = + + Rc (5)
An Ap
Experimental values of the load voltage, VL were
measured across the load resistance (RL) for different

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 where, An , Ap are cross sectional area, ρ n , ρ p are
resistivity of n and p-type legs respectively, l is the
length of the legs. Rlegs is the sum of resistance of all
the legs and RC is the contact resistance. In this case,
the module is having the total resistance, Rmod=2.7 ȍ.
From literature, the resistivity for
Fe0.2Co3.8Sb11.5Te0.5is found to be 13.5 ȝȍm [5] and
for Zn4Sb3 it is 2.53 ȝȍm [6], consequently the leg
resistance Rlegs=0.0544 Ÿ and the contact resistance
RC=2.646 Ÿ.
The thermoelectric figure of merit of
module, ZT mod is given by
1
Z T mod = Z T mat . (6)
R 1. D. M. Rowe. CRC handbook of thermoelectric,
1+ c
Rlegs
where, ZT mat is the average figure of merit of n-
type and p-type material without contact resistance at
an average temperature T . From literature, at
T =416.5 K ZT for Fe0.2Co3.8Sb11.5Te0.5 is found to be
as 0.54 [5] and for Zn4Sb3 it is 0.6 [6]. The figure of
merit of the module is calculated to be ZT mod =0.011.
The Thermoelectric energy conversion
efficiency η was calculated using the equation (9) [4]
these aspects and make the device more efficient. The
focus will be on reducing contact resistance of the
device by using low resistance contact materials and
more efficient bonding methods.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the Department of
Science & Technology (DST), India for financial
support (Grant No, SR/FTP/PS-07/09)
REFERENCES
BocaRaton:CRC (1995)
2. http://www.tellurex.com/technology/seebeck-faq.php.
3. D. Ebling, K. Bartholomé , M. Bartel, M. Jägle . J
Electron Mater 39,1376-1380 (2010).
4. D. M. Rowe and C.M. Bhandari, Modern
Thermoelectrics,Reston, Va. : Reston Pub. Co.,
5. R. C. Mallik, Anbalagan R, G. Rogl, E Royanian, P
Heinrich, E Bauer, P Rogl, S Suwas. Acta Mater ,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2013.07.032, (2013).
6. Eric S.Toberer, Protima Rauwel, Sylvain Gariel, J. Taftø
and G. Jeffrey Snyder, J. Mater. Chem 20,9877–9885
(2010).

ΔT 1 + ZT − 1
η= (9)
T1 − T2 1 + Z T + T2
T1
Where T1 and T2 are the hot side the cold side
temperature respectively, ΔT is difference between
hot and cold side temperature and Z T is
thermoelectric figure of merit at average temperature
T.
The theoretical value of efficiency is calculated
to be η = 6.2 %, when the ideal contact resistance is
considered to be zero. The experimental thermoelectric
efficiency of the module has been calculated for multi-
couple using equation (9) and is found to be η =
0.273 % which is very less compared to the theoretical
value. A possible reason for this could be that the
practical thermoelectric module has non zero or very
high contact resistance.

CONCLUSION
A prototype of a thermoelectric generator device has
been successfully fabricated and tested. But high
contact resistance remains a problem area at the
moment which results in a low efficiency of the
device. The future work shall be focused on improving

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