Automotive Thermoelectric Generator - History

History

Although the Seebeck effect was discovered in 1821, the use of thermoelectric power generators was restricted mainly to military and space applications until the second half of the twentieth century. This restriction was caused by the low conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials at that time.

In 1963, the first ATEG was built and reported by Neild et al. In 1988, Birkholz et al. published the results of their work in collaboration with Porsche. These results described an exhaust-based ATEG which integrated iron-based thermoelectric materials between a carbon steel hot-side heat exchanger and an aluminium cold-side heat exchanger. This ATEG could produce tens of watts out of a Porsche 944 exhaust system.

In the early 1990s, Hi-Z Inc designed an ATEG which could produce 1 kW from a diesel truck exhaust system. The company in the following years introduced other designs for diesel trucks as well as military vehicles

In the late 1990s, Nissan Motors published the results of testing its ATEG which utilized SiGe thermoelectric materials. Nissan ATEG produced 35.6 W in testing conditions similar to the running conditions of a 3.0 L gasoline engine in hill-climb mode at 60.0 km/h.

Clarkson University in collaboration with General Motors (GM) has designed an ATEG for a Sierra pick-up truck. The program was funded by the American Department of Energy (DOE) and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The published literature of this ATEG explained its ability to produce 255 W at a vehicle speed of 70 mph. In 2006, scientists in BSST and BMW of North America announced their intention to launch the first commercial ATEG in 2013.