Power Generation, Efficiency and Thermal Stress of Thermoelectric Module with Leg Geometry, Material, Segmentation and Two-Stage Arrangement

The objective of this study was to investigate the power generation, efficiency, and thermal stress of a thermoelectric module with leg geometry, material, segmentation, and two-stage arrangement. The effects of leg geometry, material, segmentation, and two-stage arrangement on maximum power, maximum efficiency, and maximum stress under various temperature differences and voltage load conditions were investigated. The performance parameters of the thermoelectric module were evaluated based on a numerical approach using ANSYS 19.1 commercial software. An analytical approach based on theoretical equations of the thermoelectric module was used to verify the accuracy and reliability of the numerical approach. The numerically predicted values for maximum power and maximum efficiency of the thermoelectric module were validated as +/- 5% and those for the maximum thermal stress of the thermoelectric module as +/- 7% with the corresponding calculated theoretical values. In addition, the predicted values of maximum power and maximum stress of the thermoelectric module were validated as +/- 2% and +/- 5%, respectively, with studies reported by Ma et al. and Al-Merbati et al. Of all the combinations, the single stage segmented arrangement with cylindrical leg geometry and SiGe+Bi2Te3 material was suggested as the best combination with maximum power of 0.73 W, maximum efficiency of 13.2%, and maximum thermal stress of 0.694 GPa.