Improvement of Power Recovery by Applying a Multi-Pulse Electric Field in the Thermoelectric Cycle Power Generation Process with Pyroelectric Materials

Abstract

Nanogenerator energy harvesting technologies that transform thermal energies into electricity may help address the growing need for green power. Therefore, this research aims to increase power generation by combining waste heat with pyroelectric nanogenerators as a sustainable energy source. Under optimal conditions, an external multi-pulse electric field can be utilized to generate power using thermoelectric cycle power generation. The greatest power may be gathered by applying various pulses of the external electric field at temperature changes on the surface of the pyroelectric materials. To generate pyroelectric power, a C9 BZT sample was used, and the lowest temperature difference for accomplishing this was 20 °C, with all measurements made on a sample with a lower limit of 120 °C. The maximum generation density was 0.104 mJ/cm2°CkV for a pulse width of 10 ms and 20 pulses of a low voltage (250 V/mm) input electric field. A multi-pulse electric field with low input voltage increases the power generation performance ratio (η) with the pulse count. At the largest number of pulses, the greatest η value for 250 V/mm was 7.834. Finally, it was determined that the developed pyroelectric power generation system may be more effective if a low-voltage, multi-pulse electric field is used.

Keywords

• energy harvesting
• multi-pulse electric field
• pyroelectricity
• thermoelectric cycle