Waste Heat Energy Recovering to Increase The Efficiency of Automotive Internal Combustion Engines Using Thermoelectric Generators

Abstract

The waste heat energy discharged into the atmosphere by a car engine's fuel consumption provides more than 70% of the energy. We can utilise waste heat energy in a car's exhaust system if a thermoelectric generator is used to convert the lost thermal energy into electricity. A thermoelectric generator is a device that uses the Seebeck effect to turn temperature differences into electricity. A thermoelectric generator is a device that uses the Seebeck effect to transform temperature differences into electrical energy. Because the thermoelectric generator requires a temperature difference on both sides to produce electrical energy, the ability to generate electrical power by thermoelectric generation using the missing thermal energy from the vehicle's exhaust system and relatively cool surrounding air temperature has been tested at various air velocity and speeds. On the other hand, we examine the feasibility of installing thermoelectric generation on the engine's front radiator, as well as the differences between utilizing lost thermal energy in the exhaust system and the automobile radiator. The goal of this article is to look at whether a thermoelectric generator could convert waste heat from a vehicle's exhaust system and radiator into usable electrical energy. As a result, laboratory equipment was constructed to mimic a car's exhaust system and radiator in this investigation. Changes in speed, vehicle load, and surrounding environmental variables affect the surface temperature of the exhaust pipe and radiator. The thermoelectric generator's other side will be cooled by air passing over the fins. These factors will result in a temperature difference on both sides of the thermoelectric generator, which will have a direct impact on the quantity of electrical power the device can generate. After the thermoelectric generator has undergone different operating conditions by changing the velocity of the air passing on one side to cool it down, the temperature of the other side will rise when exposed to the heat flux that represents the exhaust surface temperature and radiator surface temperature at those operating conditions. We predict that at 20°C, the output power for each thermoelectric generator device is 1.18 watts in the best environmental conditions that produce the highest temperature difference. Using ANSYS FLUENT SOFTWARE, it was determined that at a high-temperature difference of 45 and above, an increase in the temperature difference by 3°C increases the electrical output energy from As a result, we can anticipate how much electrical energy the thermoelectric generator gadget will produce under various climatic conditions.