Analysis of thermoelectric power generation using thermoelectric element

Recently, there has been renewed interest in the thermoelectric power generation based on the thermoelectric element with a view to the recycling of wasted heat. The existing theory on this subject, however, has been derived from a macroscopic viewpoint such as thermal balance. Since no differential equation is solved, it was not possible to analyze even fundamental subjects such as derivation of the temperature profile inside the element. In this paper, by means of a newly derived nonlinear thermoelectric differential equation, the temperature profiles and generated output power are analyzed accurately with actual material data. From the analysis, various conclusions are derived. Further, the analysis results by a differential equation which is a linear approximation of the original nonlinear equation are compared with those of the nonlinear equation. It is shown that good agreement is obtained. Also, the previous theory is compared with the analysis results of the linear differential equation. It is pointed out that the previous theory has a certain degree of validity.