TY - GEN
T1 - A study of heat sink performance in air and soil for use in a thermoelectric energy harvesting device
AU - Lawrence, E. E.
AU - Snyder, G. J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2002 IEEE.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - A suggested application of a thermoelectric generator is to exploit the natural temperature difference between the air and the soil to generate small amounts of electrical energy. Since the conversion efficiency of even the best thermoelectric generators available is very low, the performance of the heat sinks providing the heat flow is critical. By providing a constant heat input to various heat sinks, field tests of their thermal conductances in soil and in air were performed. A prototype device without a thermoelectric generator was constructed, buried, and monitored to experimentally measure the heat flow achievable in such a system. Theoretical considerations for design and selection of improved heat sinks are also presented. In particular, the method of shape factor analysis is used to give rough estimates and upper bounds for the thermal conductance of a passive heat sink buried in soil.
AB - A suggested application of a thermoelectric generator is to exploit the natural temperature difference between the air and the soil to generate small amounts of electrical energy. Since the conversion efficiency of even the best thermoelectric generators available is very low, the performance of the heat sinks providing the heat flow is critical. By providing a constant heat input to various heat sinks, field tests of their thermal conductances in soil and in air were performed. A prototype device without a thermoelectric generator was constructed, buried, and monitored to experimentally measure the heat flow achievable in such a system. Theoretical considerations for design and selection of improved heat sinks are also presented. In particular, the method of shape factor analysis is used to give rough estimates and upper bounds for the thermal conductance of a passive heat sink buried in soil.
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U2 - 10.1109/ICT.2002.1190357
DO - 10.1109/ICT.2002.1190357
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84949743418
T3 - International Conference on Thermoelectrics, ICT, Proceedings
SP - 446
EP - 449
BT - Proceedings ICT 2002
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 21st International Conference on Thermoelectrics, ICT 2002
Y2 - 25 August 2002 through 29 August 2002
ER -