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Power and Efficiency Measurement in a Thermoelectric Generator

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Conference

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

San Antonio, Texas

Publication Date

June 10, 2012

Start Date

June 10, 2012

End Date

June 13, 2012

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Laboratory Innovations

Tagged Division

Mechanical Engineering

Page Count

12

Page Numbers

25.1049.1 - 25.1049.12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--21806

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/21806

Download Count

1014

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Paper Authors

biography

Steven O'Halloran University of Portland

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Steven O'Halloran is an Assistant Professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Portland (UP) and teaches courses in the thermal/fluid sciences. He conducts research in the area of heat exchangers including both experimental work and numerical simulations. O'Halloran received his B.S. (2000), M.S. (2002), and Ph.D. (2006) degrees in mechanical engineering from Kansas State University.

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biography

Matthew Rodrigues University of Portland

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Matthew Rodrigues is a senior in mechanical engineering at the University of Portland, Donald P. Shiley School of Engineering.

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Abstract

Power and Efficiency Calculation in a Thermoelectric GeneratorThis paper documents a laboratory experiment to determine the efficiency of a commercialthermoelectric generator. Thermoelectric devices make use of the Seebeck effect to convert adifference in temperature to electricity. Thermoelectric devices are used or proposed for a number ofdifferent current applications including waste heat recovery. In the experiment, a LabVIEW dataacquisition system measures real-time efficiency of the thermoelectric device under different loadingconditions. The experiment is well-suited for an undergraduate thermal sciences lab or a demonstrationfor a thermodynamics lecture course. The experiment is also relatively low-cost aside from the dataacquisition system. Results from the system as well as a detailed setup are presented.

O'Halloran, S., & Rodrigues, M. (2012, June), Power and Efficiency Measurement in a Thermoelectric Generator Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21806

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