Performance analysis of an environmental temperature-difference energy harvest device based on fin structure optimization

doi:10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2023.0506

Abstract

Abstract:

Owing to the continuous expansion of the scale of Internet of Things (IoT) nodes, the contradiction between the growing energy consumption of buildings and the limited fossil energy reserves has surged. To facilitate increased applications of environmental thermal energy for power supply and break the bottleneck of node scale and energy consumption of environmentally friendly IoT, in this study, the fin structure of the heat sink in an environmental temperature-difference energy harvesting device based on phase-change annular thermoelectric technology is optimized. Phase-change heat storage technology is coupled the thermoelectric ring topology to exploit its combined advantages. In addition, the structure and parameters of the heat sink fin are optimized; hence, its heat storage capacity and release, as well as the temperature control performance, are enhanced, and the capability of the device to collect and utilize the environmental temperature-difference energy is further strengthened. In addition, the effects of different fin structures and parameters on the heat storage characteristics are investigated, and the heat flow transfer process and energy-harvest performance of the device are analyzed. The results reveal that with an increase in fin density, the volume fraction decreases or the relative height increases, and the heat storage performance and ATEG power generation are improved. Under the boundary conditions of sinusoidal temperature change, the peak power and efficiency of the device reach 31.57 μW and 0.073%, respectively, with a fin efficiency of 0.981. The structure V heat sink exhibits stronger heat storage and release and temperature control performance, and the capacity of the device were calculated to be 0.0453 J, which is 110.4% greater than that of structure I. This study is expected to further improve the heat storage power supply potential of an environmental temperature difference energy self-powered device and provide a foundation for the comprehensive construction of green IoT nodes.

Key words: fin structure optimization, phase-change annular thermoelectric, environmental temperature difference energy harvest, heat storage characteristic analysis, energy harvest performance analysis

CLC Number:

TK 11

Yang CAI, Zeyu ZHOU, Xiaoyan HUANG, Jiehong DENG, Fuyun ZHAO. Performance analysis of an environmental temperature-difference energy harvest device based on fin structure optimization[J]. Energy Storage Science and Technology, 2023, 12(12): 3780-3788.

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材料	塞贝克系数 /(V/K)	电导率 /(S/m)	热导率 /[W/(m·K)]	恒压比热容 /[J/(kg·K)]	相变潜热 /(kJ/kg)	相变温度/K
p-Bi₂Te₃	S_p(T)	1/ ρ_p(T)	K_p(T)	154	—	—
n-Bi₂Te₃	S_n(T)	1/ ρ_n(T)	K_n(T)	154	—	—
铜片	10^-6	6×10⁷	400	385	—	—
陶瓷板	—	—	27	900	—	—
相变材料(固)	—	—	0.25	3200	191	25.5
相变材料(液)	—	—	0.125	2800	191	25.5

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