Thermoelectric Power Generation
Most of the world's energy production is based on fossil fuels. With the increase in fossil fuel burning, CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased markedly, leading to global warming. Research in recent years has concentrated on producing and handling electricity from renewable sour
2025-06-28 16:36:21 - Adil Khan
Thermoelectric Power Generation
Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject SummaryMost of the world's energy production is based on fossil fuels. With the increase in
fossil fuel burning, CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased markedly, leading to global warming. Research in recent years has concentrated on producing and handling electricity from renewable sources. Thermoelectricity has gained more
interest among various types of alternative ways of generating energy, though Thomas Seebeck observed the first thermoelectric phenomenon in 1821.A thermoelectric generator, also known as a Seebeck generator, is a solid state system that directly transforms heat flux into electric energy through a phenomenon called the Seebeck effect. Thermoelectric generators function like heat engines, but are less bulky and have no moving parts. Thermoelectricity applications can be classified into two major groups, the thermoelectric generators and coolers Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are becoming increasingly interested in improving the thermoelectric materials merit figure. Thermoelectric generators have been in use for many years in terrestrial and spatial applications because of their robustness, efficiency and insensitivity to radiation. Recently, thermoelectric waste heat recovery in cars has also received more interest as the amount of electrical energy required on board has increased due to new features and technologies such as cabin guidance, heating seats, entertainment and other systems. An interesting example is energy recovery from exhaust heat in vehicles. The exhaust heat can be converted to electricity and thus the fuel consumption of the vehicle can be high.
And the project on which we are working is to use TEGs (SP-1848 27145 sa) in cold areas same as we use solar penal in warm areas to generate electricity from sun light.
We are going to design the TEG plate which will be portable, cost effective and green energy to serve the people of cold areas like people lives in northern areas face acute short fall of electricity specially in winters because there Is no other cheap and cost effective system for those people and they use generators to full fill their needs which is quite expensive and pollute the environment.
Second part of the project is to design a charge controller for the system to make the system more effective and easy to use as well as maintenance free system.
In this project we are using some modules of TEGs to make TEG plate and some microcontrollers and other components to make charge controller.
Third part of the project is to store the extra energy in batteries and synchronize it with controller.
Project ObjectivesThe primary purpose of this project is to design a TEG plate, charge controller and energy storage system for the people of Pakistan especially living in northern areas
- Using the TEG modules to design a TEG plate in such a way that it will bear the harshness of environment in cold areas.
- Then we will design charge controller using microcontroller 8086, Arduino uno R3 and OLED display and some other components.
- For storing extra energy we will use batteries and make their connection with controller.
- Finally we will make a house (prototype) using cardboards and install system in it to present our idea.
We will design thermoelectric power generator in such a way that people of northern areas can install this system easily in their homes in chimneys or in kitchen on roof top where both side of plate face temperature difference that can generate enough electricity to power the small appliances of house and make their life easy.
This system is easy to install as it have no mechanical part involve and no maintenance is required after installing, it is a portable system and very easy to use. It requires one time investment and after that no expense is needed for life time.
TEG module and its working is shown in figure 1.
Figure 2 shows the flow diagram of our designed system for easy understanding and to portray the clear image of how this will work using cost effective up to date technology.
.
Figure 1:Energy Balance on TE
Figure 2: Flow Diagram of thermoelectric power generator
Benefits of the Project- Thermoelectric generators have low maintenance and zero emissions, and
very low maintenance costs.
- Boost our energy efficiency
- In fact, less than a fourth of the energy content in your car's petrol goes into useful vehicle movement work.
- Reliable source of energy
- Environment-friendly
- Have high scalability, which means they can be applied to heat source of any size
- Lower the production cost
- Recycle wasted heat energy
- TEG Description:
• Material: Ceramic / Bismuth Telluride
• Color: White
• Parametric model: SP1848-27145
• High temperature 150C, with NM static protection
• Open-circuit voltage(V): 4.8V
• Current (MA): 20/0.97/225; 40/1.8/368; 60/2.4/469; 80/3.6/559; 100/4.8/669
• Module weight: 25g / 0.89oz
• Module size: 4 * 4 * 0.4cm / 1.6 * 1.6 * 0.2inch (L * W * H)
• Package weight: 26g / 0.92oz
• Package size: 14.5 * 10 * 0.4cm / 5.7 * 4 * 0.2inch (L * W * H)
• Small and lightweight, convenient for use.
• Designed speci?cally for power generation
• Sealed for moisture protection and contain thermal elements formulated for optimum Seebeck power generation.
- Charge controller:
Upto 48 volts and 80 ampares controller.
- Storage system:
We will use Lithium batteries acordinh to our need.
Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry Energy Other IndustriesCore Technology Clean TechOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean Energy, Climate ActionRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 61900 | |||
| TEG(SP-1848 27145 sa) | Equipment | 30 | 900 | 27000 |
| Arduino uno R3 | Equipment | 1 | 600 | 600 |
| OLED display | Equipment | 1 | 1500 | 1500 |
| Aluminium sheet | Miscellaneous | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |
| Heat sinks | Equipment | 5 | 400 | 2000 |
| Battery | Equipment | 1 | 16000 | 16000 |
| prototype | Miscellaneous | 1 | 7000 | 7000 |
| other electrical components | Equipment | 1 | 4500 | 4500 |
| printing of FYP report | Miscellaneous | 1 | 1000 | 1000 |
| microcontroller 8086 | Equipment | 1 | 300 | 300 |