• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.287-293
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• 2014

Internal combustion engines release 30~40% of the energy from fossil fuels into the atmosphere in the form of exhaust gases. By utilizing this waste heat, plenty of energy can be conserved in the auto industry. Thermoelectric generation is one way of transforming the energy from engine's exhaust gases into electricity in a vehicle. The thermoelectric generators located on the exhaust pipe have been developed for vehicle applications. Different experiments with thermoelectric generators have been conducted under various test conditions as following examples: hot gas temperature, hot gas mass flow rate, coolant temperature, and coolant mass flow rate. The experimental results have shown that the generated electrical power increases significantly with the temperature difference between the hot and the cold side of the thermoelectric generator and the gas flow rate of the hot-side heat exchanger. In addition, the gas temperature of the hot-side heat exchanger decreases with the length of the thermoelectric generator, especially at a low gas flow rate.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.220-233
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• 2019

This work aims to study and analyze the various operating modes of universal power converter which is powered by solar and thermoelectric generators. The proposed converter is operated in a DC-DC (buck or boost mode) and DC-AC (single phase) inverter with high efficiency. DC power sources, such as solar photovoltaic (SPV) panels, thermoelectric generators (TEGs), and Li-ion battery, are selected as input to the proposed converter according to the nominal output voltage available/generated by these sources. The mode of selection and output power regulation are achieved via control of the metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) switches in the converter through the modified stepped perturb and observe (MSPO) algorithm. The MSPO duty cycle control algorithm effectively converts the unregulated DC power from the SPV/TEG into regulated DC for storing energy in a Li-ion battery or directly driving a DC load. In this work, the proposed power sources and converter are mathematically modelled using the Scilab-Xcos Simulink tool. The hardware prototype is designed for 200 W rating with a dsPIC30F4011 digital controller. The various output parameters, such as voltage ripple, current ripple, switching losses, and converter efficiency, are analyzed, and the proposed converter with a control circuit operates the converter closely at 97% efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.435-442
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• 2019

Thermoelectric is a promising technology that can convert temperature differences to electricity (or vice versa). However, their relatively low efficiencies limit their applications to thermoelectric power generation systems. Therefore, low cost and high performance are important prerequisites for the application of thermoelectric materials to automotive thermoelectric generators. Silicide-based thermoelectric materials are good candidates for such applications. Recently, the thermoelectric performances of silicide-based thermoelectric materials have been significantly improved. However, increasing the thermoelectric performance of the materials while ensuring mechanical reliability remains a challenge. This review summarizes the preparation and design guidelines for silicide-based thermoelectric nanocomposites, as well as our recent progress in the development of nanocomposites with high thermoelectric performances or high mechanical reliabilities.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1201-1210
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• 2018

The applications of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) have received a lot of attention both in terms of harvesting waste thermal energy and the need for multi-levels of power. It is critical to track the optimum electrical operating point using DC to DC converters controlled by a pulse that is generated through a maximum power point tracking algorithm (MPPT). In this paper, the hardware implementation of a short-current pulse algorithm has been demonstrated under steady stated and transient conditions. In addition, the MPPT algorithm has been proposed, which is one of the most effective and applicable algorithms for obtaining the maximum power point of TEGs. During this study, the proposed prototype has been validated both analytically and experimentally. It has also demonstrated successful performance, which highlights the claimed advantages of the proposed MPPT solution.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.75-85
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• 2017

Thermoelectric is a key technology for energy harvesting and solid-state cooling by direct thermal-to-electric energy conversion (or vice versa); however, the relatively low efficiency has limited thermoelectric systems to niche applications such as space power generation and small-scale or high-density cooling. To expand into larger scale power generation and cooling applications such as ATEG (automotive thermoelectric generators) and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), high-performance bulk thermoelectric materials and their low-cost processing are essential prerequisites. Recently, the performance of commercial thermoelectric materials including $Bi_2Te_3$-, PbTe-, skutterudite-, and half-Heusler-based compounds has been significantly improved through non-equilibrium processing technologies for defect engineering. This review summarizes material design approaches for the formation of multi-dimensional and multi-scale defect structures that can be used to manipulate both the electronic and thermal transport properties, and our recent progress in the synthesis of conventional thermoelectric materials with defect structures is described.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.48 no.10
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• pp.15-19
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• 2011

We have proposed a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) circuit for thermoelectric generator (TEG) using a Boost converter. The key point of the proposed MPPT circuit is that the duty ratio of the boost converter automatically moves to Maximum Power Point by comparing of consecutive sampling voltage using two comparators. From the simulation results, we showed that the proposed circuit can find the maximum power point within 2 CLK periods and to generate optimal PWM signal within 3 CLK periods. The proposed MPPT circuit was designed by using a CMOS 0.18 um process, and it is now on the fabrication.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.1455-1458
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• 2007

In this research, a polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) film layer for micro thermoelectric generator (TEG) was fabricated. The fabrication process of the thermoelectric poly-Si film layer is explained. The P-type and N-type poly-Si films were fabricated on a tetra ethoxy silane (TEOS) layer with a supporting Si wafer. Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity were measured, including the transport properties such as the hall coefficient, hall mobility and carrier concentration. The design parameters for a rapid thermal process (RTP) were decided based on the experimental results. The measured power factors of the P-type and N-type were $21.2\;{\mu}Wm^{-1}K^{-2}$ and $26.7\;{\mu}Wm^{-1}K^{-2}$, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1135-1140
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• 2008

Bismuth-telluride based thin film materials are grown by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition(MOCVD). A planar type thermoelectric device has been fabricated using p-type $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ and n-type $Bi_2Te_3$ thin films. Firstly, the p-type thermoelectric element was patterned after growth of $4{\mu}m$ thickness of $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ layer. Again n-type $Bi_2Te_3$ film was grown onto the patterned p-type thermoelectric film and n-type strips are formed by using selective chemical etchant for $Bi_2Te_3$. The top electrical connector was formed by thermally deposited metal film. The generator consists of 20 pairs of p- and n-type legs. We demonstrate complex structures of different conduction types of thermoelectric element on same substrate by two separate runs of MOCVD with etch-stop layer and selective etchant for n-type thermoelectric material. Device performance was evaluated on a number of thermoelectric devices. To demonstrate power generation, one side of the sample was heated by heating block and the voltage output measured. As expected for a thermoelectric generator, the voltage decreases linearly, while the power output rises to a maximum. The highest estimated power of $1.3{\mu}W$ is obtained for the temperature difference of 45 K. we provide a promising procedure for fabricating thin film thermoelectric generators by using MOCVD grown thermoelectric materials which may have nanostructure with high thermoelectric properties.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.1942-1947
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• 2007

A thermoelectric module can be used for cooling or power generation. The basic requirements to achieve a significant thermoelectric performance are the same for both generators and coolers. Thermoelectric modules with $Bi_2Te_3$ materials are usually employed in the cooling applications below room temperature but it can also be used for the power generation in the similar temperature range. In the present study, the power generation with a $Bi_2Te_3$ thermoelectric module has been investigated. The temperature difference between the hot and cold sides of the module is maintained with electric heater and cold water from the circulating water bath. The result shows that the electric current generated increases with temperature difference and decreases with the load resistance. However, the voltage increases with both the temperature difference and load resistance. The electric power increases with temperature difference and it has the maximum value when the load resistance is about 4 ${\Omega}$ for a given device.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.425-425
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• 2008

Bismuth-antimony-telluride based thermoelectric thin film materials were prepared by metal organic vapor phase deposition using trimethylbismuth, triethylantimony and diisopropyltelluride as metal organic sources. A planar type thermoelectric device has been fabricated using p-type $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ and n-type $Bi_2Te_3$ thin films. Firstly, the p-type thermoelectric element was patterned after growth of $4{\mu}m$ thickness of $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ layer. Again n-type $Bi_2Te_3$ film was grown onto the patterned p-type thermoelectric film and n-type strips are formed by using selective chemical etchant for $Bi_2Te_3$. The top electrical connector was formed by thermally deposited metal film. The generator consists of 20 pairs of p- and n-type legs. We demonstrate complex structures of different conduction types of thermoelectric element on same substrate by two separate runs of MOCVD with etch-stop layer and selective etchant for n-type thermoelectric material. Device performance was evaluated on a number of thermoelectric devices. To demonstrate power generation, one side of the device was heated by heating block and the voltage output was measured. The highest estimated power of 1.3mW is obtained at the temperature difference of 45K. We provide a promising approach for fabricating thin film thermoelectric generators by using MOCVD grown thermoelectric materials which can employ nanostructures for high thermoelectric properties.