Recent development efforts on thermoelectric (TE) power converters comprised of low-to-mid-temperature (25-400°C), and high-temperature (400-750°C) materials have achieved >60 Watts electrical power with a thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency of ~8%. This paper will focus on thermoelectric devices fabricated from these materials, and also on cascaded power converters that enable the high power and efficiency to be obtained. In addition, work is underway to explore the use of more advanced low- to mid-temperature TE materials that have achieved over 10% efficiency in a single junction converter.

Date Published: 24 May 2012
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8377, Energy Harvesting and Storage: Materials, Devices, and Applications III, 83770H (24 May 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.920166

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8377:
Energy Harvesting and Storage: Materials, Devices, and Applications III
Nibir K. Dhar; Priyalal S. Wijewarnasuriya; Achyut K. Dutta, Editor(s)