REDUCED ENERGY CONSUMPTION
- by Massive Thermoelectric Waste Heat Recovery in Light Duty Trucks
Objective
"Design a thermoelectric generator (TEG) that can be installed in a combustion engine vehicle and produce 3 kW electrical power under full load conditions and 1-2 kW under partial load conditions."
– Project Proposal
Also from the project proposal:
ConceptThe concept [...] is to make an efficient use of the energy wasted in the form of heat in thermal engines. This heat is mainly dissipated in the exhaust device and in the cooling circuit. Many attempts have been made at trying to recover this waste heat with Rankine cycles and other principles , none of which have been shown viable at this time. One of the recurrent ideas in this field is the use of thermo- electric devices that convert heat into electricity statically which has also failed reaching large-scale deployment because of its lack of performance.
We are currently witnessing three trends that combine in a way that this idea can now be considered with a different perspective: on the one hand, electric power consumption is continuously increasing due to the growing part of electric and electronic devices on board modern vehicles; on the other hand, recent improvements obtained in thermoelectrics specialist laboratories show that it is close to being a viable approach; finally, the environment problems have led to strong commitments concerning the reduction of fossil-energy consumption and the emission of CO2."
More in detail the project is aimed at:- Application of TE-materials with high performance and therefore efficiency (compared to conventional thermoelectric modules) in automotive technology; more in particular to toughen up those TE-materials and TE-modules to be used under automotive conditions (thermal cycling, vibration, aging, corrosion, etc.)
- Recovery from the vehicle exhaust of a part of wasted thermal energy in order to produce sufficient electrical power to alleviate the alternator or to support the powertrain in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV).
Reduction of fuel consumption and abatement of CO2 emissions due to the reduced mechanical load at the crankshaft which is necessary to drive the alternator.
Participants
- Siemens AG Germany
- ROM Innovation France
- Centro Ricerche FIAT Italy
- Robert Bosch GmbH Germany
- Fraunhofer IPM Germany
- Valeo France
- Termo-Gen AB Sweden
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