Effect of generator load on hybrid heat recovery system

Abstract

Heat recovery is the reutilization of lavished thermal energy. This paper proposes a hybrid heat recovery system that utilizes exhaust gases of a generator to heat water and produce electricity using thermoelectric generators. The system is composed of a concentric tank with a copper tube passing through it. At the inner surface of the tube, a layer of TEGs is located. The main purpose of the paper is to study the effect of changing the load of the generator on the water temperature and power generated. Knowing that 100 TEGs are utilized, results show that 47 °C hot water and 141 W are produced when load is 10 kW. It increases to 97 °C hot water and 1412 W when the generator load is 38 kW (14.12 W per TEG). Keywords: Heat recovery, Thermoelectric generators, Cogeneration, Domestic hot water, Generators, Exhaust gases