Abstract
When the thermoelectric generator is applied to the intermittently generated waste heat for the waste heat recovery, a heat accumulator enables a thermoelectric generator to reduce a generating cost. Because a heat accumulator stores a part of waste heat generated intermittently so that a thermoelectric generator can operate using the stored heat even while no waste heat is generated. On the other hand, when a thermoelectric generator is operated with heat stored in a heat accumulator, the temperature of heat source drops and causes decrease of generated power and conversion efficiency. So it is necessary to track the maximum point of net power, which is subtracted power required for circulation from gross power generation. In this paper flow rate control for maximum net power tracking of the thermoelectric generation with a heat accumulator is experimentally investigated with a commercially available thermoelectric generator. On the basis of the experimental result we evaluated the effect of introduction of a heat accumulator on performance of thermoelectric generation by use of intermittently generated waste heat on the view point of the rate of operation and generating cost.
