Mathematical Modeling of Thermoelectric Generator by Regression Analysis

Abstract

As countries grow, their need and demand for energy grow as well. The development of the technology and industry, which come to exist due to the growth of the country, a brings about a rise in energy consumption, as well as increasing the damage to the environment. Therefore, as the environmental and energy-related issues started to emerge more and more, we have seen an increase in the number of studies on energy production and its effects on the environment. Such studies highlight the renewable energy sources among the non-polluting alternative energy sources. Geothermal energy, particularly, shines out among the other renewable energy sources. It is a clean energy source that has been sustained since the Earth was formed. This study focuses on the design of a device named thermoelectric generator (TEG) that converts a renewable energy source, geothermal energy, directly into electric energy. Hence, we ran a simulation of a regression analysis and mathematical model on the thermoelectric modules TEC1-12706 and TEC1-12710, which can easily be found on the market, and then crosschecked the simulation results of different temperature, pressure, and water flow with experiments. The values for current, voltage, power, hot and cold surface temperatures, and the temperature difference between hot and cold surfaces were constantly monitored and recorded. The results of the experiment were compared using the regression analysis method. For the device TEC1-12706, error percentage of 9 experiments was 16.52% while it was 9.70% for TEC1-12710. At 90°C temperature difference, for TEC1-12706, output voltage was Vmax = 2.03V, output power Pmax = 2.17W, and efficiency 32.15%. For TEC1-12710, output voltage was Vmax = 2.11V, output power Pmax = 3.42W, and efficiency 38.53% [1,2].