scholarly journals Performance analysis on series and parallel circuit configurations of a four-cell thermoelectric generator module design

Author(s):  
Muhammad Hadrami Hamdan ◽  
◽  
Nur Aqilah Mat Som ◽  
Amirul Abdul Rashid ◽  
Gilbert Jugi Jimmy ◽  
...  

This study presents a technique in recovering energy from low-grade waste heat of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). The goal is to study the functionality and performance using a multiple cell thermoelectric generator (TEG) module. The test bench consists of a heating element, a test section, and a cooling section. The heating element supplies a hot stream temperature of 53°C and 58°C that represents the waste heat from an actual PEMFC stack. The module comprises four TEG cells with heat pipes coupled with a heat sink system. The main variables were the TEG cooling modes of natural convection (0 m/s) and forced convection (at 5 m/s and 10 m/s) and the series and parallel circuit configurations of the module. At 58°C waste heat temperature, forced convection cooling at 10 m/s gave the highest voltage and power output of 140 mV and 1960 µW. The outputs of the series circuit was 159% higher than the parallel circuit. This initial simple TEG module design has shown that it has a good prospect to compensate for the ultra-low waste heat temperature of a PEMFC. Future designs of the modules need to identify a more optimized approach to improve the outputs and contribute to the long-term sustainability of PEMFC systems.

1992 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 33-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. S. C. Gross ◽  
R. R. Cohen

The small island of Jersey is served by a single wastewater treatment plant at Bellozanne. Since its inception some 30 years ago the sludge produced has been used on agricultural land. Inevitably there are circumstances which prevent this happening without interruption, eg, poor weather, or seasonal demand. On these occasions, the island has no other disposal option to fall back on. Furthermore, concerns over the practice have created a perception that it might be doing harm to the ‘quality' of the farm produce. The responsible body, the Public Services Department, formulated a flexible, multiple option solution and commissioned Halcrow to engineer the capital works. The works centre around a thermal drying plant using biogas produced by the digestion process as the main fuel. Waste heat is recovered for digester heating making the total process potentially self sufficient in energy. At the same time, the bulk of the product is reduced considerably, providing an easily transported material with potential for use directly on the land as a fertilizer substitute or as a low grade fuel. Farfrom being a disposal problem requiring manpower and expense, sludge will soon be regarded by the States of Jersey as a valuable resource with a revenue potential.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1218
Author(s):  
Sharjeel Ashraf Ansari ◽  
Mustafa Khalid ◽  
Khurram Kamal ◽  
Tahir Abdul Hussain Ratlamwala ◽  
Ghulam Hussain ◽  
...  

The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is the fastest growing fuel cell technology on the market. Due to their sustainable nature, PEMFCs are widely adopted as a renewable energy resource. Fabricating a PEMFC is a costly process; hence, mathematical modeling and simulations are necessary in order to fully optimize its performance. Alongside this, the feasibility of a waste heat recovery system based on the organic Rankine cycle is also studied and power generation for different operating conditions is presented. The fuel cell produces a power output of 1198 W at a current of 24A. It has 50% efficiency and hence produces an equal amount of waste heat. That waste heat is used to drive an organic Rankine cycle (ORC), which in turn produces an additional 428 W of power at 35% efficiency. The total extracted power hence stands at 1626 W. MATLAB/Simulink R2016a is used for modeling both the fuel cell and the organic Rankine cycle.


APL Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 011105
Author(s):  
Daniel Dzekan ◽  
Anja Waske ◽  
Kornelius Nielsch ◽  
Sebastian Fähler
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Noman Yousuf ◽  
Timothy Anderson ◽  
Roy Nates

Abstract Despite being identified nearly a century ago, the diffusion absorption refrigeration (DAR) cycle has received relatively little attention. One of the strongest attractions of the DAR cycle lies in the fact that it is thermally driven and does not require high value work. This makes it a prime candidate for harnessing low grade heat from solar collectors, or the waste heat from stationary generators, to produce cooling. However, to realize the benefits of the DAR cycle, there is a need to develop an improved understanding of how design parameters influence its performance. In this vein, this work developed a new parametric model that can be used to examine the performance of the DAR cycle for a range of operating conditions. The results showed that the cycle's performance was particularly sensitive to several factors: the rate of heat added and the temperature of the generator, the effectiveness of the gas and solution heat exchangers, the mass flowrate of the refrigerant and the type of the working fluid. It was shown that can deliver good performance at low generator temperatures if the refrigerant mass fraction in the strong solution is made as high as possible. Moreover, it was shown that a H2O-LiBr working pair could be useful for achieving cooling at low generator temperatures.


2022 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Xiuqin Zhang ◽  
Wentao Cheng ◽  
Qiubao Lin ◽  
Longquan Wu ◽  
Junyi Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) based on syngas are a promising technology for electric vehicle applications. To increase the fuel conversion efficiency, the low-temperature waste heat from the PEMFC is absorbed by a refrigerator. The absorption refrigerator provides cool air for the interior space of the vehicle. Between finishing the steam reforming reaction and flowing into the fuel cell, the gases release heat continuously. A Brayton engine is introduced to absorb heat and provide a useful power output. A novel thermodynamic model of the integrated system of the PEMFC, refrigerator, and Brayton engine is established. Expressions for the power output and efficiency of the integrated system are derived. The effects of some key parameters are discussed in detail to attain optimum performance of the integrated system. The simulation results show that when the syngas consumption rate is 4.0 × 10−5 mol s−1cm−2, the integrated system operates in an optimum state, and the product of the efficiency and power density reaches a maximum. In this case, the efficiency and power density of the integrated system are 0.28 and 0.96 J s−1 cm−2, respectively, which are 46% higher than those of a PEMFC.


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