Utilizing Thermal Waste Energy

Jason Chiu

Need1990 1996 1990-96

Sector MTCE MTCE MTCE Increase Increase

Residential 556,441 

697,861 

141,420 25%

Commercial 368,972 482,846 

113,874 31%

Industrial 152,399 190,948 

38,549 25%

Transportation 1,020,868 1,071,085 50,217 5%

Electric Utility 120,829 1,430,669 1,309,840 1084%

Total 2,219,509 

3,873,409 1,653,900 75%

Generated by Brown University

Thermoelectric Devices

http://www.arborsci.com/detail.aspx?ID=430

Seebeck Effect

• Seebeck effect

Institute of Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Peltier Effect

http://www.melcor.com/images/cutaway.jpg

Knowledge Base

• Terry Tritt, 2007• 60% wasted• Low efficiency still

saves a lot

Formula for TE figure of merit

Literature Review

• Tritt and Subramanian, 2006

• Current uses of TE materials

Literature Review

• Bottner et al 2006• Used thin film super

lattice thermoelectric materials

Literature Review

• Dresselhaus et al, 2007• Low-dimensional thermoelectric materials

Literature Review

• Yang and Caillat, 2006• TE materials for space use

Do-Ability

• Thermoelectric devices are not very expensive

• Various sources of energy can be used such as sunlight or anything that emits heat

Bibliography• Bottner, Harald, Gang Chen, and Rama Venkatasubramanian. "Aspects of Thin-

Film Superlattice Thermoelectric Materials, Devices, and Applications." MRS Bulletin 31 (2006): 211-17.

• Brown University Center for Environmental Studies. "Fossil Fuels." Brown University. <http://www.brown.edu/Research/EnvStudies_Theses/GHG/Sections/Fossil_Fuel.htm>.

• Dresselhaus, Mildred S., Gang Chen, Ming Y. Tang, Ronggui Yang, Hohyun Lee, Dezhi Wang, Zhifeng Ren, Jean-Pierre Fleurial, and Pawan Gogna. "New Directions for Low-Dimensional Thermoelectric Materials." Advanced Materials 19 (2007): 1-12.

• "History." Thermoelectrics. Caltech. <http://www.thermoelectrics.caltech.edu/history_page.htm>.

• "Seebeck." Chemistry. Institute of Chemistry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. <http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/history/seebeck.html>.

• Tritt, Terry M., and M.A. Subramanian. "Thermoelectric Materials, Phenomena, and Applications: A Bird's Eye View." MRS Bulletin 31 (2006): 188-98.

• Tritt, Terry M., Harald Bottner, and Lidong Chen. "Thermoelectrics: Direct Solar Thermal Energy Conversion." MRS Bulletin 33 (38): 366-68.

• Yang, Jihui, and Thierry Caillat. "Thermoelectric Materials for Space and Automative Power Generation." MRS Bulletin 31 (2006): 224-29.