Abstract
Integrating a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) into the engine cooling system has various advantages including reducing additional mechanical parts, and saving energy and space for automotive applications. Based on performance parameters of the engine and thermoelectric modules, three different TEC configurations called plate-shape, stripe-shape, and diamond-shape are constructed with development of simulations of the different TECs and the performance of the circulating coolant. Based on these simulations, the velocity, pressure, and temperature fields of the coolant are obtained for further research. Besides, the temperature of the TEC and the output power of the thermoelectric generator (TEG) are acquired experimentally. Comparing the working performance of the different TECs, the simulation and experimental results show that the TEG using the diamond-shaped TEC achieves a relatively ideal performance. Finally, some measures are proposed to improve the cooling system, providing guidelines for future research.
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Su, C.Q., Xu, M., Wang, W.S. et al. Optimization of Cooling Unit Design for Automotive Exhaust-Based Thermoelectric Generators. J. Electron. Mater. 44, 1876–1883 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-014-3579-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-014-3579-2