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.