• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.53-53
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• 2018

Thermoelectric materials can convert directly waste heat to electricity and vice versa. The improvement of the thermoelectric efficiency strongly depends on the dimensionless figure of merit, $ZT=S^2{\sigma}T/{\kappa}$, where S is the Seebeck coefficient, ${\sigma}$ is the electrical conductivity, T is the absolute temperature, and ${\kappa}$ is the thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity consists of the electronic contribution (${\kappa}_e$) and phonon contribution (${\kappa}_{ph}$). It is very challenge to increase the power factor, $S^2{\sigma}$ and to reduce the thermal conductivity simultaneously because the power factor and electronic thermal conductivity are coupled. One strategy is to decrease the phonon thermal conductivity. The phonon thermal conductivity can be decreased by controlling the grain size and structural defects such as dislocations and twinning. In order to achieve enhancements in thermoelectric efficiency, microstructures that can form numerous interfaces have been investigated intensively for controlling the transport of charge carriers and heat carrying phonons. In this presentation, we report the heterogeneous microstructure of $Mg_2Si_{0.6}Sn_{0.4}$ thermoelectric materials and investigation of its influence on thermoelectric properties.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.641-646
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to improve the cooling performance of single and cascade refrigeration systems using thermoelectric modules. The system consists of a heat sink, fan, and thermoelectric module. The operating parameters considered in this study include power distribution between the first- and second-stage thermoelectric modules, air flow, and variable condensing unit. The cooling capacity increased with decreases in the temperature difference between hot and cold surfaces, but decreased with increases in the condensing temperature. The COP decreased with increasing electric power of the thermoelectric module because of the increased Joule heat. The cooling performance improvement using the thermoelectric module is represented by the freezer temperature.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.62-97
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• 2000

Recently the research for utilization of waste heat produced from electric power plants, casting factories, heat treating factories or commercial are being afforded by the need for energy saving. The objective of this study is to develop a thermoelectric generation system which unused energy from close-at-hand sources such as garbage incineration heat and industrial exhaust etc. into electricity. This paper a thermoelectric technology on a optimum system design method and efficiency and cost effective thermoelectric element on order to extract the maximum power output from energy conversion of waste energy. It is shown that the longitudinal stresses of module contacted with two point constrained Al tubes could be released more than those with a one-point constrained.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.12-18
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• 2003

Recently the research for utilization of waste heat produced from electric power plants, casting factories, heat treating factories or commercial building are being afforded by the need for energy saving. The objective of this study is to develop a thermoelectric generation system which converts unused energy from close-at-hand sources such as garbage incineration heat and industrial exhaust etc. into electricity. This paper presents a thermoelectric technology on a optimum system design method and efficiency and cost effective thermoelectric element on order to extract the maximum power output from energy conversion of waste energy. It is shown that the longitudinal stresses of module contacted with two point constrained AI tubes could be released more than those with a one-point constrained.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.832-835
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• 2003

This paper presents the investigation and development of heat exchangers incorporated with thermoelectric modules. Firstly, the characteristics of the modules themselves are evaluated with respect to the applied DC power. Then, the modules-based heat exchangers with an amplification apparatus to enhance cooling effects are designed and developed. The cooling performance of the proposed heat exchangers is experimentally investigated with respect to the magnitude and pattern of input DC power, along with cooling liquids. The results denote that the heat exchangers using thermoelectric modules can be effectively used in the field of the various cooling system.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.162-168
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• 2007

This paper presents the effects of thermoelectric module arrangement on the cooling performance of an air conditioner using thermoelectric module. A prototype of air cooling system, employing several thermoelectric modules, has been designed and built. The evaporative cooling technique is adopted for hot side of the module. The number of thermoelectric module in the system has been varied in the range of $2{\sim}8$. The optimal operation conditions, such as input power to the thermoelectric module, fans and pump, have been determined for each arrangement of the system and the cooling performance has been compared under the optimal operation. It is found that both cooling capacity and COP are increased as the number of thermoelectric module increased. It is also found that cooling capacity can be improved by connecting the thermoelectric modules in series than in parallel, while the COP is little affected.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2012

This paper reports the generation efficiency and the thermal performance of a thermoelectric generator (TEG) harvesting energy from the waste heat of high power electronic components. A thermoelectric (TE) model containing thermal boundary resistances is used to predict generation efficiency and junction temperature of a high power electronic component. The predicted results are verified with measured values, and the discrepancy between prediction and measurement is seen to be moderate. The verified TE model predicts generation efficiencies, junction temperatures of the component, and temperature differences across a TEG at various source heat flows associated with various electrical load resistances. This study explores effects of the load resistance on the generation efficiency, the temperature difference across a TEG, and the junction temperature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.138-139
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• 2006

Metal organic chemical vapor deposition has been investigated for growth of $Sb_{2-x}Bi_xTe_3$ films on (001) GaAs substrates using diisopropyltelluride, triethylantimony and trimethylbismuth as metal organic sources. The thermoelectric properties were measured at room temperature and include Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity and Hall effect. In-plane carrier concentration and electrical Hall mobility were highly dependent on precursor's composition ratio and deposition temperature. The thermoelectric Power factor($={\alpha}^2{\sigma}$) was calculated from theses properties. The best Power factor was $2.6\;{\times}\;10^{-3}W/mK^2$, given by grown $Sb_{1.6}Bi_{0.4}Te_3$ at $450^{\circ}C$. These materials could potentially be incorporated into advanced thermoelectric unicouples for a variety of power generation applications.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.149-156
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• 2019

A stretchable thermoelectric module consisting of 5 pairs of Bi₂Te₃-based hot-pressed p-n thermoelectric legs was processed by filling the module inside with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and removing the top and bottom substrates. Its stretchable characteristics and power generation properties were measured. The integrity of the module was kept well even after 10 strain cycles ranging from 0 to 0.1. With increasing the tensile strain to 0.2, the module circuitry became open because of joint failure between Cu electrodes and thermoelectric legs. The stretchable thermoelectric module exhibited an open circuit voltage of 4.6 mV with a temperature difference of 2.2K across both ends of thermoelectric legs, and changes in its open circuit voltage were below 5% for tensile strains of 0~0.1. Being elongated for a strain of 0.1, it exhibited the maximum output power of 18.5 ㎼ with the temperature difference of 2.2K across its both ends.