Operation Principles
In ATEGs, thermoelectric materials are packed between the hot-side and the cold-side heat exchangers. The thermoelectric materials are made up of p-type and n-type semiconductors, while the heat exchangers are metal plates with high thermal conductivity.
The temperature difference between the two surfaces of the thermoelectric module(s) generates electricity using the Seebeck Effect. When hot exhaust from the engine passes through an exhaust ATEG, the charge carriers of the semiconductors within the generator diffuse from the hot-side heat exchanger to the cold-side exchanger. The build-up of charge carriers results in a net charge, producing an electrostatic potential while the heat transfer drives a current. With exhaust temperatures of 700°C (~1300°F) or more, the temperature difference between exhaust gas on the hot side and coolant on the cold side is several hundred degrees. This temperature difference is capable of generating 500-750 W of electricity.
The compression assembly system aims to decrease the thermal contact resistance between the thermoelectric module and the heat exchanger surfaces. In coolant-based ATEGs, the cold side heat exchanger uses engine coolant as the cooling fluid, while in exhaust-based ATEGs, the cold-side heat exchanger uses ambient air as the cooling fluid.
Read more about this topic: Automotive Thermoelectric Generator
Famous quotes containing the words operation and/or principles:
“An absolute can only be given in an intuition, while all the rest has to do with analysis. We call intuition here the sympathy by which one is transported into the interior of an object in order to coincide with what there is unique and consequently inexpressible in it. Analysis, on the contrary, is the operation which reduces the object to elements already known.”
—Henri Bergson (1859–1941)
“...at this stage in the advancement of women the best policy for them is not to talk much about the abstract principles of women’s rights but to do good work in any job they get, better work if possible than their male colleagues.”
—Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve (1877–1965)