Output Characteristics Analysis of Thermoelectric Generator Based on Accurate Numerical Model

This paper develops a numerical model of thermoelectric generator (TEG), and analyses the influencing factors on output power based on the model. The model takes into account much more influencing factors than previous model, such as contact effects and actual structure of TEG. It can be seen by curves analysis and theoretical derivation, that the output power of TEG can be improved by increasing the heat-absorbing efficiency at the hot-side and the cooling efficiency at the cold-side of TEG respectively; contact resistance can be regarded as part of the internal resistance of TEG, the output power decreases gradually along with the increase of contact resistance; and the matched load of TEG is not equal to the internal resistance unlike most circuit. The results show that the model is accurate, and the expressions of output characteristics can be applied to further optimization study for thermoelectric generator.