Design and characterization of small thermoelectric generators for environmental monitoring devices

•We realized and characterized a new small thermoelectric generator.•The device supplies, for sufficient long time, an output voltage higher than 200 mV.•The complete power conditioning and control module has been realized.•The device is able to power autonomous sensors in remote environmental sites.•The device has been tested in real environmental conditions.

A small thermoelectric generator to power autonomous sensors in remote environmental sites is studied, designed, realized, characterized, and tested. The thermoelectric phenomena, applied to our device, are theoretically introduced and experimentally verified by directly measuring the physical quantities when the thermoelectric generator operates in working conditions. The device is then tested under different external conditions, showing that it is able to supply, for sufficient long time, an output voltage higher than 200 mV and an output power on the order of 10 mW when a temperature difference higher than 10 K and a load resistance close to the internal resistance are considered. Furthermore we developed a devoted power conditioning circuit in order to usefully manage the output voltage. Finally, we tested the device in real operative conditions.