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New opportunities for electricity generation in shallow hot dry rock fields: a study of thermoelectric generators with different heat exchangers
- Source :
- Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra, instname
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Elsevier, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Despite being one of the largest renewable sources, geothermal energy is not widely utilized for electricity generation. In order to leverage shallow hot dry rock (HDR) fields, the present paper proposes an alternative to enhanced geothermal systems (EGS): thermoelectric generators. Based on the conditions of Timanfaya National Park, a prototype has been built to experimentally analyze the feasibility of the proposed solution. The prototype is composed by a two phase closed thermosyphon (TPCT) as hot side heat exchanger, two thermoelectric modules, and it considers different cold side heat exchangers: fin dissipators assisted by a fan and loop thermosyphons, both with various geometries. Experiments have demonstrated that loop thermosyphons represent the best alternative due to their low thermal resistance and, especially, due to their lack of auxiliary consumption, leading to a maximum net power generation of 3.29 W per module with a temperature difference of 180 °C (200 °C in the hot side and 20 °C as ambient temperature), 54% more than with fin dissipators. Hence, there exists a new opportunity for electricity generation in shallow hot dry rock fields: thermoelectric generators with biphasic thermosyphons as heat exchangers, a patented and robust solution. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Spanish State Research Agency and FEDER-UE under the grants DPI2014-53158-R and RTC-2017-6628-3 ; as well as the FPU Program of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU16/05203 ).
- Subjects :
- Geothermal
020209 energy
Thermal resistance
Nuclear engineering
Energy Engineering and Power Technology
02 engineering and technology
020401 chemical engineering
Heat exchanger
0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
0204 chemical engineering
Geothermal gradient
Thermoelectric generator
Hot dry rock
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
business.industry
Geothermal energy
Thermosyphon
Renewable energy
Fuel Technology
Electricity generation
Nuclear Energy and Engineering
Environmental science
Thermosiphon
Fin dissipator
business
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra, instname
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....56b635262a8c4569e46dfe929a26aa20