Integration of Heat Exchangers with Thermoelectric Modules

Fundamentally, it is essential to have some basic components in a thermoelectric generator (TEG) system to be able to harvest energy. To achieve a high-performance system with overall efficiency close to conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials, the components need to be considered thermally interdependent in the system designs. This chapter studies the effect of the heat exchangers design on system performance, and discusses the challenges through accurate analyses techniques while introducing proper cooling technologies. Proper design of a TEG system involves design optimization processes wherein the critical system components such as the TEG module and the heat exchangers are thermally coupled. The optimization techniques of the TEG systems coupled with the heat transfer through the system using a maximum efficiency-power map for waste heat recovery applications offer maximum efficiency with only a small power penalty for a high specific power performance of the TEG system.