Performance analysis on series and parallel circuit configurations of a four-cell thermoelectric generator module design

Muhammad Hadrami  Hamdan; Nur Aqilah Mat Som; Amirul Abdul Rashid; Gilbert Jugi Jimmy

doi:10.24191/jaeds.v1i1.18

Authors

Muhammad Hadrami Hamdan School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Nur Aqilah Mat Som School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Amirul Abdul Rashid School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Gilbert Jugi Jimmy School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24191/jaeds.v1i1.18

Keywords:

fuel cell, thermo electric generator, heat pipe, waste heat recovery, Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Abstract

This study presents a technique in recovering energy from low-grade waste heat of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). The goal is to study the functionality and performance using a multiple cell thermoelectric generator (TEG) module. The test bench consists of a heating element, a test section, and a cooling section. The heating element supplies a hot stream temperature of 53°C and 58°C that represents the waste heat from an actual PEMFC stack. The module comprises four TEG cells with heat pipes coupled with a heat sink system. The main variables were the TEG cooling modes of natural convection (0 m/s) and forced convection (at 5 m/s and 10 m/s) and the series and parallel circuit configurations of the module. At 58°C waste heat temperature, forced convection cooling at 10 m/s gave the highest voltage and power output of 140 mV and 1960 µW. The outputs of the series circuit was 159% higher than the parallel circuit. This initial simple TEG module design has shown that it has a good prospect to compensate for the ultra-low waste heat temperature of a PEMFC. Future designs of the modules need to identify a more optimized approach to improve the outputs and contribute to the long-term sustainability of PEMFC systems.

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