Integrated optimization of thermoelectric systems

Thermoelectric devices present unique opportunities for sustainable energy conversion. While research efforts have remarkably improved material capabilities over the past several decades, material advancement alone is insufficient to realize the full potential of thermoelectric technology [25, 24, 39, 14]. Here, an integrated perspective is applied to thermoelectric technology to identify potential system improvements. The traditional thermoelectric architecture is dissected to identify limitations. It is found that the coupling of the device height to the thermoelectric element height imposed by the architecture can significantly hinder performance. A novel distributed architecture, which de-couples the device and element heights, is theorized to address these limitations. A modeling program incorporating device parameters and external conditions is developed to simulate and optimize the system architecture. The new architecture is shown to out-perform the traditional architecture in both a broad range of general generation and refrigeration conditions and the specific application of a phase-change material thermoelectric generator. The results signal the importance and potential value of an integrated approach to thermoelectric system design.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Schlenker, Aaron Paul.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Asegun S. Henry and Kasey J. Russell.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127119

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/127119