Measurement and evaluation of produced energy by thermoelectric generator in vehicle

Wasted heat from exhaust gas and the other parts of vehicles such as brake discs can be a daily great source of energy for thermoelectric generators. Different features such as cross wind, vehicle speed, heat sink structure, number of brakes during driving and engine operation influence the temperature of exhaust and discs. Thus, measurement of vehicle's wasted heat needs an accurate system. Hence, this paper suggests a flexible measurement system along with a reliable sensor which transfers data with high speed to a computer. The system measures temperature of heat resources during driving with considering the real conditions. The measurement system is located on different places of exhaust and brake discs. The transferred data is stored online in a computer for later applications including power and energy calculation of thermoelectric generators. Due to time consuming and difficulties of the measurements in all situations, an intelligent prediction algorithm is used to produce the extra data for various conditions. The applied intelligent method in the algorithm is adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The measured and estimated values are helpful to design an appropriate thermoelectric generator system and energy management in hybrid vehicles. In order to validate the results, an experimental prototype is built and used to compare the real data with theoretical one. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.