• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.822-828
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• 2018

P-type Ce/Yb-filled skutterudites were synthesized, and their charge transport and thermoelectric properties were investigated with partial double filling and charge compensation. In the case of $(Ce_{1-z}Yb_z)_{0.8}Fe_4Sb_{12}$ without Co substitution, the marcasite ($FeSb_2$) phase formed alongside the skutterudite phase, but the generation of the marcasite phase was inhibited by increasing Co concentration. The electrical conductivity decreased with increasing temperature, exhibiting degenerate semiconductor behavior. The Hall and Seebeck coefficients were positive, which confirmed that the specimens were p-type semiconductors with holes as the major carriers. The carrier concentration decreased as the concentration of Ce and Co increased, which led to decreased electrical conductivity and increased Seebeck coefficient. The thermal conductivity decreased due to a reduction in electronic thermal conductivity via Co substitution, and due to decreased lattice thermal conductivity via double filling of Ce and Yb. $(Ce_{0.25}Yb_{0.75})_{0.8}Fe_{3.5}Co_{0.5}Sb_{12}$ exhibited the greatest dimensionless figure of merit (ZT = 0.66 at 823 K).

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.358-363
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• 2013

Lithium-ammonia (Li-$NH_3$) solutions are possible to be successfully made under the vacuum condition but there still remains a problem of undergoing stable and reliable decomposition in vacuum for high-efficiency thermoelectric power generation. This paper describes a new method for improving the thermoelectric conversion efficiency of Li-$NH_3$ solutions in vacuum. The proposed method uses a 'U'-shaped Pyrex vacuum tube for the preparation and decomposition of pure fluid Li-$NH_3$ solutions. The tube is shaped so that a gas passageway ('U') connecting both legs of the 'U' helps to balance pressure inside both ends of the tube (due to $NH_3$ gasification) during decomposition on the hot side. Thermoelectric experimental results show that solution reaction in the 'U'-shaped tube proceeds more stably and efficiently than in the 'U'-shaped tube, and consequently, thermoelectric conversion efficiency is improved. It is also proved that the proposed method can provide a reversible reaction, which can rotate between synthesis and decomposition in the tube, for deriving the long-time, high-efficiency thermoelectric power.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.243-248
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• 2013

Internal combustion engines typically expel 30%-40% of the energy supplied by fuel to the environment through their exhaust system. Therefore, further significant improvements in the thermal efficiency of IC engines are possible by recovering the waste heat from the engine exhaust gas. With this fact in mind, a numerical simulation was carried out to investigate the potential of using thermoelectric generation with an internal combustion engine for waste heat recovery. Physical parameters such as the exhaust temperature and mass flow rate were evaluated in the exhaust system, and the optimum location for inserting a thermoelectric generator (TEG) into the system was determined. The TEG will be located in the exhaust system and will use the energy flow between the warmer exhaust gas and the external environment. The optimum position of the temperature distribution and the TEG performance were predicted through numerical analysis. The experimental results obtained showed that the power output significantly increases with the temperature difference between the cold and hot sides of the TEG.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.180-185
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• 2006

Microwatt power level at relatively high voltage(order of volt) was produced by $Bi_{0.5}Sb_{1.5}Te_{3}/Bi_{2}Te_{2.4}Se_{0.6}$ thin film thermoelectric generators, and maximum output power varied with temperature difference in the square-law relation. Output voltage and current were possible to control by changing the way of electrical connection as well as the number of stacking plate-modules. Variation of open circuit voltage and short circuit current with temperature difference showed a linear relationship. There were, however, some differences in variations; open circuit voltage were dependent on the number of plate-module when connected in series, but it was not for parallel connection. On the other hand, short circuit current showed the opposite behavior to the case of open circuit current.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.561-565
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• 2014

Thermoelectric materials have been the topic of intensive research due to their unique dual capability of directly converting heat into electricity or electrical power into cooling or heating. Bismuth telluride ($Bi_2Te_3$) is the best-known commercially used thermoelectric material in the bulk form for cooling and power generation applications In this work we focus on the large scale synthesis of nanostructured undoped bulk nanostructured $Bi_2Te_3$ materials by employing a novel bottom-up solution-based chemical approach. Spark plasma sintering has been employed for compaction and sintering of $Bi_2Te_3$ nanopowders, resulting in relative density of $g{\cdot}cm^{-3}$ while preserving the nanostructure. The average grain size of the final compacts was obtained as 200 nm after sintering. An improved NS bulk undoped $Bi_2Te_3$ is achieved with sintered at $400^{\circ}C$ for 4 min holding time.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.89-93
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• 2017

A thin film thermoelectric generator that consisted of 5 p/n pairs was fabricated with $1{\mu}m$-thick n-type $In_3Sb_1Te_2$ and p-type $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ deposited via radio frequency magnetron sputtering. First, $1{\mu}m$-thick GST and IST thin films were deposited at $250^{\circ}C$ and room temperature, respectively, via radio-frequency sputtering; these films were annealed from 250 to $450^{\circ}C$ via rapid thermal annealing. The optimal power factor was found at an annealing temperature of $400^{\circ}C$ for 10 min. To demonstrate thermoelectric generation, we measured the output voltage and estimated the maximum power of the n-IST/p-GST generator by imposing a temperature difference between the hot and cold junctions. The maximum output voltage and the estimated maximum power of the $1{\mu}m$-thick n-IST/p-GST TE generators are approximately 17.1 mV and 5.1 nW at ${\Delta}T=12K$, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09b
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• pp.1223-1224
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• 2006

The p-type $(Bi_{0.2}Sb_{0.8})_2Te_3/(Pb_{0.7}Sn_{0.3})$Te functional gradient material (FGM) was fabricated by hot-pressing the mechanically alloyed $(Bi_{0.2}Sb_{0.8})_2Te_3$ and the 0.5 at% $Na_2Te-doped$ $(Pb_{0.7}Sn_{0.3})Te$ powders. Also, the n-type $Bi_2(Te_{0.9}Se_{0.1})_3/PbTe$ FGM was processed by hot-pressing the mechanically alloyed $Bi_2(Te_{0.9}Se_{0.1})_3$ and the 0.3 wt% Bi-doped PbTe powders. With ${\Delta}T$ larger than $300^{\circ}C$, the p-type $(Bi_{0.2}Sb_{0.8})_2Te_3/(Pb_{0.7}Sn_{0.3})Te$ FGM exhibited larger thermoelectric output power than those of the $(Bi_{0.2}Sb_{0.8})_2Te_3$ and the 0.5 at% $Na_2Te-doped$ $(Pb_{0.7}Sn_{0.3})Te$ alloys. For the n-type $Bi_2(Te_{0.9}Se_{0.1})_3/PbTe$ FGM, the thermoelectric output power superior to those of the $Bi_2(Te_{0.9}Se_{0.1})_3$ and the 0.3 wt% Bi-doped PbTe was predicted at ${\Delta}T$ larger than $300^{\circ}C$.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.52-59
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• 2017

This study was performed in order to examine the effect of a thermoelectric cooling system combined with plasma on beef. Beef was studied in a box with a thermoelectric cooling system and plasma generation apparatus (TCS-1), a box with thermoelectric cooling system (TCS-2) and a polystyrene box (control). A temperature inside the thermoelectric cooling system was kept below $2^{\circ}C$, and volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) values of TCS-1 and TCS-2 were 7.72 mg% and 9.20 mg%, respectively. The thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value (0.52 mgMA/kg) of TCS-1 was significantly lower than that (0.91 mgMA/kg) of TCS-2. For volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) value, TCS-1 maintained freshness compared to TCS-2, since the freshness of TCS-1 value (6.98-9.77 mg%) was less than that of TCS-2 (6.98-11.45 mg%) during storage. The microbial counts of TCS-1 and TCS-2 were 4.62 log CFU/g and 7.09 log CFU/g, respectively, on the $7^{th}$ day, which were lower than that (8.45 log CFU/g) of control on the $3^{rd}$ day. Sensory evaluation of TCS-1 showed the highest scores for appearance, color, juiciness, and overall acceptability than the others. In conclusion, TCS-1 was effective for maintaining freshness of beef during storage.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.15-20
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to numerically investigate the thermal characteristics of an automobile exhaust-based heat exchanger for automotive thermoelectric power generation with various exhaust gas mass flow rates and temperatures. The heat exchanger for automotive thermoelectric power generation has a square-type pin installed inside, so the maximum amount of heat can be transferred to the thermoelectric element from the heat energy coming from the automobile exhaust gas. The exhaust gas mass flow rate changed from 0.01, to 0.02, to 0.03 kg/s, and the exhaust gas temperature changed from 400, to 450, to 500, to 550, to $600^{\circ}C$, respectively. A numerical simulation was conducted by using the commercial program ANSYS CFX v17.0. Consequently, the exhaust gas pressure difference between the inlet and the outlet of the heat exchanger is determined according to the flow rate of the exhaust gas. When the mass flow rate of the exhaust gas increased, the pressure difference between the inlet and the outlet of the heat exchanger increased, but the exhaust gas pressure difference between the inlet of the heat exchanger and the outlet did not vary with the exhaust gas temperature. Therefore, in order to obtain the maximum surface temperature from the heat exchanger, the exhaust gas mass flow rate should be lower, and the exhaust gas temperature should be higher.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.22-27
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• 2005

A thermoelectric flow sensor for small quantity of gas flow rate was fabricated using silicon wafer semiconductor process and bulk micromachining technology. Evanohm R alloy heater and chromel-constantan thermocouples were used as a generation heat unit and sensing parts, respectively. The heater and thermocouples are thermally isolated on the $Si_{3}N_{4}/SiO_{2}/Si_{3}N_{4}$ laminated membrane. The characteristics of this sensor were observed in the flow rate range from 0.2 slm to 1.0 slm and the heater power from 0.72 mW to 5.63 mW. The results showed that the sensitivities $(({\partial}({\Delta}V)/{\partial}(\dot{q}));{\;}{\Delta}V$ : voltage difference, $\dot{q}$ : flow rate) were increased in accordance with heater power rise and decreasing of flow rate.