Study on Output Characteristics of Hot-Pressed Bi2Te3 based Thermoelectric Generator

In this study, hot pressing technique is introduced to prepare BiTe thermoelectric material, and the hot-pressed and zone-melted BiTe materials are used to make thermoelectric generator(TEG)(TEG1-127-1.4-1.6-250), respectively. The output power performance testing and life test for the TEG are carried out. Results show that the output power performance of hot-pressed BiTe TEG is almost similar with that of zone-melted BiTe TEG in the BOL-Beginning of the life. The maximum output power of 6.22 W and 6.35 W is reached for the hot-pressed and zone-melted BiTe TEG with the hot side temperature of 250 °C and cold side temperature of 30 °C, respectively. However, the reliability of hot-pressed BiTe TEG is higher than that of zone-melted BiTe TEG. The decay rate of the open-circuit voltage and maximum output power, and the growth rate of the dynamic inner-resistance of hot-pressed BiTe TEG are much lower than those of zone-melted BiTe TEG with the hot side temperature of 250 °C and total using time of 2200 h in the life test.