Investigation of the performance of a thermoelectric generator system utilizing the thermal energy of air compressed in a compressor

Abstract

The present study includes a numerical analysis on the electrical power output of a thermoelectric generator system placed between a compressor and the intercooler of a turbocharged tractor. Although current literature already includes reports on thermal energy of exhaust gases used by thermoelectric generators in automobiles, this study is oriented on the utility of the thermal energy of the compressed outlet air from the compressor by the thermoelectric generators. This is the uniquness of the present study. Numerical results showed that the highest and the lowest performances occurred at outdoor temperatures of 268 K and 303 K, respectively. From a single thermoelectric module, while a 1.23 W power output was obtained at outdoor temperature of 268 K, a 0.7 W power output was obtained at 303 K. The thermoelectric generator system used in this study consisted of 28 thermoelectric generator modules. The power output generated by this system can be used for any electrically powered devices on a tractor, such as a tractor refrigerator with a thermoelectric cooler whose power requirement can be easily satisfied by using the thermoelectric generator system. In a turbocharged tractor with a thermoelectric generator, the temperature of the air entering into the intercooler for a single thermoelectric generator module was decreased by 1.6% at an outdoor temperature of 268 K in comparison with the one without the thermoelectric generator.