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Numerical Study on Thermoelectric Power Generator in Combustor

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Abstract

Micro gas turbine is a typical distributed energy resource system. The temperature of the burning gas in the combustor reaches 1000 K or even more, which makes a huge temperature difference in the combustor an interesting topic for heat recovery. In this work, thermoelectric devices are used for heat recovery in the combustor of the micro gas turbine. A flow-thermal-electric multiple-physical numerical model is used for the combustor and thermoelectric device power generation system. The effect of the winglet vortex generators installed at the outer wall of the flame tube on the system performance is examined. The numerical results show that the best matching load is about 1.4 times the internal resistance which provides the maximum power output for the thermoelectric generator. Active cascade control of heat transfer enhancement elements on flame tube considering wall safety and conversion efficiency of thermoelectric generator under high temperature and large temperature drop is proposed. The numerical results show that the conversion efficiency of thermoelectric generator can be increased by more than 80%, and the average wall temperature can be reduced by 35 K by using non-uniform arrangement of the winglet vortex generators.

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Abbreviations

A :

heat transfer area/mm2

c p :

specific heat/J·(kg·K)−1

D h :

hydraulic diameter of cold-side channel, mm

f :

friction factor

G k :

generation term

H :

height of cold-side channel, mm

h :

heat transfer coefficient/W·(m2·K)−1

h′:

height of winglet/mm

I :

loop current/A

J :

electrical current density vector/A·m−2

k :

turbulent kinetic energy/m2·s−2

L :

length of cold-side channel/mm

l :

length of winglet/mm

ṁ :

mass flow rate/kg·s−1

Nu :

Nusselt number

P :

output power/W

Q in :

heat transfer rate/W

R :

internal resistance/Ω

Re :

Reynolds number

R load :

load resistance/Ω

T :

temperature/K

u :

velocity vector/m·s−1

V :

voltage/V

W :

width of cold-side channel/mm

w :

width of winglet/mm

Δp :

pressure drop/Pa

ΔT :

temperature difference/K

Δt :

longitudinal pitch of winglet/mm

α :

Seebeck coefficient/V·K−1

β :

attack angle of winglet/(°)

γ :

filling factor

δ :

thickness/mm

η :

conversion efficiency/%

λ :

thermal conductivity/W·(m·K)−1

μ :

dynamic viscosity/Pa·s

ξ :

direction normal to the corresponding wall

ρ :

density/kg·m−3; electrical resistivity/Ω·m

ε :

dissipation rate/m2·s−3

ave:

average

c:

cold side

cl:

ceramic insulation layer

cu:

copper conductor layer

f:

fluid

ft:

flame tube

i :

sequence label of distance, i =1, 2, 3, …, 8

in:

inlet

max:

maximum

n:

N-type TE material

oc:

open circuit voltage

out:

outlet

p:

P-type TE material

W:

winglet

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Acknowledgment

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52022080 and No. 51676155).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering, MOE, **’an Jiaotong University, **’an, 710049, China

    Na Li, Peiqin Wu, **hai Xu, Qiuwang Wang & Ting Ma

  2. School of Safety Science and Engineering, **’an University of Science and Technology, **’an, 710054, China

    **ng Lu

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, 89154-4027, USA

    Yitung Chen

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  1. Na Li
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Correspondence to Ting Ma.

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Li, N., Wu, P., Lu, X. et al. Numerical Study on Thermoelectric Power Generator in Combustor. J. Therm. Sci. 31, 2124–2136 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-022-1662-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-022-1662-1

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