Simultaneous power generation and heat recovery using a heat pipe assisted thermoelectric generator system

• A new passive power cogeneration system using industrial waste heat was introduced.
• Heat pipes and thermoelectrics were used for recovering waste heat and electricity.
• Theoretical model predicted the 2 kW test rig could recover 1.345 kW thermal power.
• 10.39 W electrical power was produced equivalent to 0.77% conversion efficiency.

This research explores a new method of recovering waste heat and electricity using a combination of heat pipes and thermoelectric generators (HP-TEG). The HP-TEG system consists of Bismuth Telluride (Bi2Te3) based thermoelectric generators (TEGs), which are sandwiched between two finned heat pipes to achieve a temperature gradient across the TEG for thermoelectricity generation. A theoretical model was developed to predict the waste heat recovery and electricity conversion performances of the HP-TEG system under different parametric conditions. The modelling results show that the HP-TEG system has the capability of recovering 1.345 kW of waste heat and generating 10.39 W of electrical power using 8 installed TEGs. An experimental test bench for the HP-TEG system is under development and will be discussed in this paper.