Effect Analysis of Form Factor on Thermo-Electric Generator Performance

One of the major contributor for the climate change and global warming is the residual thermal energy generated from automobiles as exhaust gases in IC engine powered vehicles and batteries and fuel cell heating in green vehicles. This waste heat or the thermal energy can be converted into useful electric energy using the thermos-electric generator (TEG). TEGs are devices that can generate electricity directly from temperature difference between two surfaces. They are manufactured using semiconductor materials that exhibit Seebeck effect, generating voltage due to temperature gradient across it terminals. These devices are compact, stable and more reliable electric power generators. The main setback of TEG is its low efficiency compared to other power generators. In this paper, form factor of TEG is studied in detail with its effect on figure of merit, for commercial vehicle applications. In addition, bottlenecks in implementing these TEGs in series production is discussed.