An optimization study of structural size of parameterized thermoelectric generator module on performance

A TEG module with 199 thermoelectric (TE) couples was simulated with constant and variable property parameters respectively. It is indicated that the simulative results with variable property parameters are closer to the experimental results. Meanwhile, it is found that the open circuit voltage and output power are proportional to the number of TE couples. The parameterized rectangle-TEG(R-TEG) and circle-TEG(C-TEG) modules with 2 TE couples were established respectively; it was found that the performances of TEG have not relevant to the shape of TE couple. When the hot side temperature is constant, the internal resistance, the open circuit voltage and the efficiency increased but the output power decreased with the decrease of cross sectional area; when the cross sectional area is constant, the open circuit voltage, output power and efficiency increased with the increase of the hot side temperature. The intersection of the respective output power and efficiency of R-TEG and C-TEG are regarded as an optimized value. The performances of the optimized R-TEG and the original TEG are compared, it can be seen that their output power and efficiency increase with the increase of hot side temperature. The maximum output power and efficiency of the optimized R-TEG can reach to 91.88 W and 4.5% respectively.