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Mathematical model and optimization of a thin-film thermoelectric generator

Mathematical model and optimization of a thin-film thermoelectric generator
Mathematical model and optimization of a thin-film thermoelectric generator
The thriving of Internet of Things is set to increase the demands of low power wireless sensing devices. Thin-film thermoelectric generators are ideal as a sustainable power source for Internet of Things device, as they allow for low maintenance and energy autonomy. This work presents a model to estimate the performance of a thin-film thermoelectric generator. Verified by finite element method simulation, the results from the model show that by increasing interconnect electrical conductivity and reducing device pitch increases the power density. The power density can also be increased by increasing fill factor and reducing the thermal conductivity of insulating materials. A new corrugated thin-film thermoelectric generator design is proposed in this work that allows for higher fill factors compared to conventional square designs where a limit on the minimum feature size is imposed, as is the case with photo-lithography.
thin-film thermoelectric, Mathematical modelling, FEM Simulation, Device Optimization, Fill factor
2515-7655
Newbrook, Daniel W
8eb26553-e1e2-492d-ad78-ce51a487f31f
Huang, Ruomeng
c6187811-ef2f-4437-8333-595c0d6ac978
Richards, Stephen P.
ebe5e699-553f-408b-ab9d-d20270e952c1
Sharma, Shivank
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Reid, Gillian
37d35b11-40ce-48c5-a68e-f6ce04cd4037
Hector, Andrew L.
f19a8f31-b37f-4474-b32a-b7cf05b9f0e5
De Groot, Cornelis
92cd2e02-fcc4-43da-8816-c86f966be90c
Newbrook, Daniel W
8eb26553-e1e2-492d-ad78-ce51a487f31f
Huang, Ruomeng
c6187811-ef2f-4437-8333-595c0d6ac978
Richards, Stephen P.
ebe5e699-553f-408b-ab9d-d20270e952c1
Sharma, Shivank
5e04ef2b-78d5-4265-a449-7067beea46fc
Reid, Gillian
37d35b11-40ce-48c5-a68e-f6ce04cd4037
Hector, Andrew L.
f19a8f31-b37f-4474-b32a-b7cf05b9f0e5
De Groot, Cornelis
92cd2e02-fcc4-43da-8816-c86f966be90c

Newbrook, Daniel W, Huang, Ruomeng, Richards, Stephen P., Sharma, Shivank, Reid, Gillian, Hector, Andrew L. and De Groot, Cornelis (2019) Mathematical model and optimization of a thin-film thermoelectric generator. Journal of Physics: Energy. (doi:10.1088/2515-7655/ab4242).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The thriving of Internet of Things is set to increase the demands of low power wireless sensing devices. Thin-film thermoelectric generators are ideal as a sustainable power source for Internet of Things device, as they allow for low maintenance and energy autonomy. This work presents a model to estimate the performance of a thin-film thermoelectric generator. Verified by finite element method simulation, the results from the model show that by increasing interconnect electrical conductivity and reducing device pitch increases the power density. The power density can also be increased by increasing fill factor and reducing the thermal conductivity of insulating materials. A new corrugated thin-film thermoelectric generator design is proposed in this work that allows for higher fill factors compared to conventional square designs where a limit on the minimum feature size is imposed, as is the case with photo-lithography.

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Accepted/In Press date: 6 September 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 6 September 2019
Keywords: thin-film thermoelectric, Mathematical modelling, FEM Simulation, Device Optimization, Fill factor

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 435225
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/435225
ISSN: 2515-7655
PURE UUID: af640bf3-1ae7-4715-a6ba-b79b202a769f
ORCID for Daniel W Newbrook: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5047-6168
ORCID for Ruomeng Huang: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1185-635X
ORCID for Gillian Reid: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5349-3468
ORCID for Andrew L. Hector: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9964-2163
ORCID for Cornelis De Groot: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3850-7101

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Date deposited: 28 Oct 2019 17:30
Last modified: 12 Nov 2024 05:07

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Contributors

Author: Daniel W Newbrook ORCID iD
Author: Ruomeng Huang ORCID iD
Author: Stephen P. Richards
Author: Shivank Sharma
Author: Gillian Reid ORCID iD

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