The effect of temperature mismatch on thermoelectric generators electrically connected in series and parallel

This work analyses the impact of thermal imbalance on the power produced at module and system level in a TEG array. Experimental results clearly illustrate the issue and a theoretical model is presented to quantify the impact. The authors believe the experimental results presented in this paper are the first to validate a rigorous examination of the impact of mismatched operating temperatures on the power output of an array of thermoelectric generators.