Design of a thermoelectric energy harvesting device

• Main Author: Lan, Caiming
• Other Authors: Wong Kin Shun, Terrence
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Electronic circuits
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64156
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

It is imminent and an established fact that the world will soon face shortage of fossil fuels and many other natural resources. Atomic energy, whilst efficient is still rejected by many due to various reasons. As such, there is an increasing trend in the search for alternative energy sources, with the most popular choices being the wind, solar heat energy. One least exploited alternative power, commonly known as Thermoelectric Power utilizes waste energy that is released as heat and recycles it to become renewable energy. Due to its low energy efficiency, thermoelectric power pales in comparison to the other popular renewable energy solutions. Despite the low energy efficiency , there are still advantages that this technology can be explored.Thus, this report shall cover on the theoretical aspects of the thermoelectric technology, and as well as the current applications of this technology used in different areas. In addition, this report shall include findings obtained from various practical experiments conducted in order to assess the power generation performance of the thermoelectric device. Results drawn from the various experiments has highlighted that the amount of thermoelectric device and the type of thermal insulator used have a direct impact on the overall output performance of the thermoelectric device. A thermoelectric harvesting device was built towards the end of the project, capable of extracting waste heat source and converts it into useful energy stored into a supercapacitor.