One application of thermoelectrics: wood stoves for residential cooking

March 9th 2009

Related work
Electricity generation as by-product of space heating in cold rural area of Lebanon

BiTe TE module

Natural convection heat sink

4.2 W per module, 0.24$/W, no heat wasted Energy Conversion and Management 46 (2005) 16311643

Use some electricity to generate more

MIT Rajeev Ram group shows it is worth to use part of the generated electricity to pump an active heat sink
10 3

Power density (W/cm 2)

10 2

10 1

h=20, Baseline SiGe h=0.5, /2 h=0.5,

2
10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4

W2

W1

10 0

h=0.5, Baseline SiGe

10 -1

Forced liquid cooling using electric pump Net output W=W1-W2

10 -2 10 0

L (m)

Philips wood stoves

Philips wood stoves use part of generated heat to pump a thermoelectric fan to improve combustion efficiency and generate more heat!

BiTe module: W=Q1-Q2 Air preheating: Q2 Even smarter: forced cooling air is preheated and fed in burning chamber, so nothing lost! Q1, W=Q1-Q2 Fan: W

Performance and Data sheet

Performance against traditional stove: up to 94% carbon monoxide reduction up to 93% particulate matter reduction up to 45% wood saving (CCT)

Adjustable power between 1.5-5.5kW Low emission figures not changed Fan 1Watt, 150 liters/minute Heated air inlet at top of stove, 200300C Peltier Thermo power generator (1.5-2.5 Watt) starts after 4-7 minutes About 100 Watt of heat to be dissipated by heat sink

Why Philips is developing advanced wood stoves

> 2 Billion people still rely on wood for cooking 1.6 million people die each year from cooking related emissions 400 million stoves world wide market, mostly in developing countries
Drawbacks Te is toxic and expensive BiTe must work at low temperature range (<200C), so thermal insulator is inserted after fire (800C)
Test consumer acceptance

BiSbTe: high ZT at low temperature range

Hest insulator at hot side is needed to move the TE element to low temperature range P-type

Nano Lett., Vol. 8, No. 8, 2008

BiSbTe electrical conductivity

Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x
8 9

Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x M0 M1 M2 M3 R

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2

M0 M1 M2 M3 R

11.018 -0.065122 0.0002117 -2.1893e-07 0.99984

14.31 -0.076284 0.00019874 -1.784e-07 0.99995

Electrical conductivity (10 S/m)

bulk nano

50

100

150

200

250

Temperature (C)

BiSbTe thermal conductivity

Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x M0 M1 M2 M3 R
8 9

Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x M0 M1 M2 M3 R

1.4783 -0.0038522 2.2443e-05 3.0956e-08 0.99971

1.2116 -0.0039379 1.8848e-05 -7.77e-09 0.99465

Thermal conductivity (Wm K )

2.5

-1 -1

bulk nano

1.5

1 0 50 100 150 200 250

Temperature (C)

BiSbTe Seebeck
Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x M0 M1 M2 M3 R
8 9

Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x M0 M1 M2 M3 R

260 240 220

Seebeck (uV/K)

173.72 0.52979 -0.0014583 -7.77e-07 0.99961

205.03 0.70863 -0.0044033 1.5726e-06 0.99944

200 180 160 140 120

bulk nano

50

100

150

200

250

Temperature (C)

Some basic principles before numerical calculations

Largest temperature gradient not necessarily results in largest power output: self compatibility Electrical impedance match: maximum power, near maximum efficiency Thermal impedance match: maximum power Largest internal thermal impedance: largest efficiency Smaller heat sink thermal resistance is always better, if not using power Using active heat sink may increase net electrical power due to its lower thermal resistance (micro channels) or increased heat source (wood stoves) Active heat sink thermal conductivity not necessarily linear to driving power

1 ZT 1 T 2K

Th point is: you just should not put batteries with similar emf but quite different internal resistances in series!

Th Rth-in, RLin, V0 Rth-sink Tc RL

Optimization of bulk BiTe based wood stoves

1 0.8
Power output (W/cm )
2

4%

3%
Efficiency Efficiency

0.6 2% 0.4 1% 0.2

0% 10

TE element thickness (mm)

4%

0.8
Power output (W/cm )

3% 0.6 2% 0.4 1% 0.2

Cold side heat sink resistance 1K/W, for an TE module area of 30mmx30mm with 50% filling factor, hot side 800 degree C, cold side 50 degree C. @2.4mm, 3.6K/W, output power is maximized at 0.787 W/cm 2 (material area), with efficiency 2.56%

10

15

0% 20

Heat sink at hot side (K/W)

Optimization of nano BiTe based wood stoves

1 0.8
Power output (W/cm )
2

5%

4%

0.4

2%

0.2

1%

0% 10

TE element thickness (mm)

6% 5% 4% 3%
Efficiency

0.8
Power output (W/cm )
2

0.6

0.4 2% 0.2 1% 0% 20

Cold side heat sink resistance 1K/W, for an TE module area of 30mmx30mm with 50% filling factor, hot side 800 degree C, cold side 50 degree C. @1.4mm, 5.4K/W, output power is maximized at 0.935 W/cm 2 (material area), with efficiency 4.61%

10

15

Heat sink at hot side (K/W)

Efficiency

0.6

3%

Use SiGe: cheap and large work temperature range

N-type Large ZT at T>200C Nanomaterials (prepared by ball-milling Si and Ge and hot-pressing) have improved ZT

APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 93, 193121 2008

Thermal conductivity
Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x
8 9

Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x M0 M1 M2 M3 R

M0 M1 M2 M3 R

4.6529 -0.0012977 -1.0797e-06 2.0776e-09 0.99805

2.4819 0.0016613 -4.6281e-06 3.9035e-09 0.98016

Thermal conductivity (Wm K )

-1

-1

bulk nano

2 0 200 400 600 800 1000

Temperature (C)

Electrical conductivity
Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x M0 M1
8 9

Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x M0 M1 M2 M3 M4 R

12.406 -0.018646 6.9334e-06 5.8801e-09 0.9997

9.827 0.0053567 -6.8222e-05 9.7962e-08 -3.7764e-11 0.99476

14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

M2 M3 R

Electrical conductivity (10 S/m)

bulk nano

200

400

600

800

1000

Temperature (C)

Seebeck
Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x M0 M1 M2 M3 R
8 9

Y = M0 + M1*x + ... M8*x + M9*x M0 M1 M2 M3 M4 R

-0.91549 -0.0033317 2.9075e-07 1.71e-09 0.99974

-1.2286 0.0016329 -2.0576e-05 3.2238e-08 -1.4377e-11 0.99598

Seebeck coefficient (10 V/K)

-1
bulk nano

-4

-1.5

-2

-2.5

-3

200

400

600

800

1000

Temperature (C)

Compatibility factor
SiGe is very self-compatible along temperature gradient direction
2.8 2.6
Compatibility factor (/V)
bulk nano

2.4 2.2 2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 0 200 400 600 800 1000

Temperature (C)

Bulk SiGe TE wood stoves

W increases when sink resistance decreases Optimal TE element thickness (for maximum power) increases with sink resistance

Optimal TE thickness
Heat sink resistance 1K/W, for an TE module area of 30mmx30mm with 50% filling factor, hot side 800 degree C, cold side 50 degree C. 4.51 W/cm2 power density (using TE material area) and 5.33% efficiency can be achieved. Optimal TE thickness is 2.5mm.
5 8% 7% 4 6%
Power (W/cm )
2

4% 2 3% 2% 1 1% 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0%

TE thickness (cm)

Efficiency

5%

Nano SiGe
6.17 W/cm2 power density (using TE material area) and 7.25% efficiency can be achieved. Optimal TE thickness is 2mm.
7 6 5
Power (W/cm )
2

12% 10% 8%

4 6% 3 4% 2 1 0 2% 0%

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

TE thickness (cm)

Efficiency

Summary
SiGe may be a better choice of TE material for Philips wood stoves for (1) cheaper (2) non-toxic (3) no thermal insulator (4) less materials more power out Power density of 4.51 W/cm2 (bulk) and 6.17 W/cm2 (nano alloys) can be achieved, with efficiency above 5%. As a comparison, original BiTe solution offers power output 2W for 30mmx30mm area module, with efficiency 2% in experiment, 0.787 W/cm2 (material area) with efficiency 2.56% for bulk in theory, and 0.935 W/cm2 (material area) with efficiency 4.61% for nano BiSbTe in theory.