Constant heat characterisation and geometrical optimisation of thermoelectric generators

The first part of this article presents the electrical characterisation of TEGs for constant-heat and it investigates the relationship between maximum power point and open-circuit voltage. The second part studies the maximum power that can be produced by TEGs with pellets (or legs) of different size and number, i.e. with different packing factors, and of different height. This work provides advice on the optimisation of the pellets geometrical parameters in order to increase the power generated, and consequently the thermodynamic efficiency, and to minimise the quantity of thermoelectric material used, for systems with limited input thermal power.