Study of a Thermoelectric Generator incorporated in a multifunction wood stove

Daniel Champier (1) , Jean-Pierre Bedecarrats (2) , Tarik Kousksou (1) , Marc Rivaletto (1) , Françoise Strub , P. Pignolet (3)

1 SIAME - Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Ingénieur Appliquées à la Mécanique et au génie Electrique
2 LATEP - Laboratoire de Génie Thermique Énergétique et Procédés (EA1932)
3 UPPA - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour

Replacing traditional open fire stoves, characterized by low efficiency, with improved ones is an important challenge for developing countries. Adding thermoelectric generators can provide electricity that permits not only the use of an electric fan increasing the ratio air to fuel to achieve a complete combustion in the stoves but also the satisfaction of basic needs: light, phones and other electronic devices. A review of existing thermoelectric generators for stoves is presented. To test the thermoelectric modules, an experimental device has been carried out in our laboratory where a gas heater simulates the stove. The generator set-up is described including the switching electric regulator that stabilizes the fluctuating voltage from the modules and stores the energy in a battery. The performance of the generator mostly depends on the heat transfer through the modules and especially on the thermal contact resistances. First experiments show the influence of the pressure on these resistances. Then a study of temperatures and electrical power measurements is compared to a theoretical analysis using thermoelectric and heat transfer equations. The very reasonable value of the obtained contact resistances shows that the mechanical design of the generator is almost optimized. The thermoelectric generator has produced up to 9.5W.

Mots clés: thermoelectric; power generator; biomass stove; thermal energy; heat recovery

Domaines: Physique [physics]

Daniel Champier, Jean-Pierre Bedecarrats, Tarik Kousksou, Marc Rivaletto, Françoise Strub, et al.. Study of a Thermoelectric Generator incorporated in a multifunction wood stove. Energy, 2011, 36 (3), pp.1518. ⟨10.1016/j.energy.2011.01.012⟩. ⟨hal-00727162⟩