Study on the Influence of the Cold-End Cooling Water Thickness on the Generative Performance of TEG
At present, about 40% of the fuel energy is discharged into air with the exhaust gas when an automobile is working, which is a big waste of energy. A thermoelectric generator (TEG) has the ability to harvest the waste heat energy in the exhaust gas. The traditional TEG cold-end is cooled by the engine cooling system, and although its structure is compact, the TEG weight and the space occupied are important factors restricting its application. In this paper, under the premise of ensuring the TEG maximum net output power and reducing the TEG water consumption as much as possible, the optimization of the TEG water thickness in the normal direction of the cold-end surface (WTNCS) is studied, which results in lighter weight, less space occupied and better automobile fuel economy. First, the thermal characteristics of the target diesel vehicle exhaust gas are evaluated based on the experimental data. Then, according to the thermoelectric generation model and the cold-end heat transfer model, the effect of the WTNCS on the cold-end temperature control stability and the system flow resistance are studied. The results show that the WTNCS influences the TEG cold-end temperature. When the engine works in a stable condition, the cold-end temperature decreases with the decrease of the WTNCS. The optimal value of the WTNCS is 0.02 m and the TEG water consumption is 8.8 L. Comparin it with the traditional vehicle exhaust TEG structure, the power generation increased slightly, but the water consumption decreased by about 39.5%, which can save fuel at0.18 L/h when the vehicle works at the speed of 60 km/h.