Initial Study on Solar-Powered Thermoelctric Power Generator

• Main Author: Adha, Rafikal
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/34562
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The increasing necessity for energy along with the escalation of emission production leads to inclining interest on new and renewable energy sources. One of such sources is the solar energy resource. Also known is the thermoelectric generator (TEG) that is capable of producing power from a heat source and a heat absorber installed on both of its sides. This capability provides a potential of power production from a heat source created by solar radiation. Utilization of solar energy as the heat source for thermoelectric power generation was studied. The system consisted of an aluminum plate as the solarthermal collector and a CPU cooler as the heat absorber. The thermoelectric cooler module TEC 12706 was chosen due to its performance on low operating temperatures faced in this study. The experiment to determine the performance of the system was carried out by installing the system facing north with 10° inclination corresponding to the optimum inclinaton for the city of Bandung. The system was connected to a load value matching the internal resitance of the module to achieve maximum power production. The results show fluctuations of the value of internal resistance on several tests conducted. The resulting module’s characteristic curve deviated from the ideal characteristic curve. Results from further testing shows that imperfect contact between components due to bad design and production was suspected to be the cause. The potential power produced has an average of 0.44 mW and a maximum of 2.4 mW. Also produced was the relationship between environmental factors with the system’s temperatures and generated power, also the collector’s temperature distribution.