Investigating the influence of Thomson effect on the performance of a thermoelectric generator in a waste heat recovery system.

Since thermoelectric technology is a clean method to produce electrical energy, many researchers have been attracted to this field, recently. Different modelling and simplifying studies have been done to gain the best performance and optimum geometry of thermoelectric devices, but Thomson heat has not been considered, seriously. In this paper, using an analytical model, the effect of Thomson heat on the power and efficiency of a thermoelectric generator is investigated and amount of its influence in different conditions is explained. To compare different materials with the aspect of the rate of Thomson heat influence, Bi-Te and Pb-Te alloys are considered. It is seen that in different conditions, Thomson heat has different effects on the system efficiency. In low temperature ranges (lower than 650 K), although it has negative influence on the power and efficiency for both materials, Bi-Te has better performance than the other one. For the temperature ranges higher than 650 K, Pb-Te can be appropriate material since Thomson heat has positive effect on the power and efficiency for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]