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Cost-effective waste heat recovery using thermoelectric systems

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Abstract

Optimizing thermoelectric (TE) materials and modules are important factors, which can lead to widespread adoption of waste heat recovery systems. The analytic co-optimization of the TE leg, heat sink, and the load resistance shows that all parameters entering the figure-of-merit (Z) do not have the same impact on cost/performance trade-off. Thermal conductivity of the TE material plays a more important role than the power factor. This study also explores the impact of heat losses and the required contact resistances. Finally, we present the theoretical cost performance ($/W) of TE waste heat recovery systems for vehicle waste heat recovery application, assuming hot side gas temperature of 600 °C and a cooling water temperature of 60 °C.

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Acknowledgment

Authors would like to acknowledge the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science - Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC), Center of Energy Efficient Materials, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) for financial support of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, Baskin School of Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, 95064, USA

    Kazuaki Yazawa

  2. Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA

    Kazuaki Yazawa & Ali Shakouri

Authors
  1. Kazuaki Yazawa
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  2. Ali Shakouri
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Correspondence to Kazuaki Yazawa.

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Yazawa, K., Shakouri, A. Cost-effective waste heat recovery using thermoelectric systems. Journal of Materials Research 27, 1211–1217 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.79

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.79

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