Mathematic simulation on thermoelectric power generation with cylindrical multi-tubes

Analytical expression of electric power was deduced in case of the large-scale cylindrical thermoelectric tubes exposed to two thermal fluids. The output powers of the proposed six geometrical arrangements were mathematically solved from heat transfer theory, and compared with the flat panel systems. The maximum output was the largest in the ideally cooled systems. In the other realistic systems, it was the largest for the system of the counter flow with a single thermoelectric tube. The multiplication of thermoelectric panels can shorten significantly the device length, although the output from the multi-tubes decreases only a little. For example, the double helical tubes (T2CH system) can generate 96% output by 35% length, compared with the single tube in the counter flow (TIC system). (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.