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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of different guide fins structures (i.e. single-layer and double-layer guide fins) on the exhaust flow and thermal uniformity of the motorcycle exhaust thermoelectric generator.

One single-layer guide fins structure and three double-layer guide fins structures are numerically investigated in terms of exhaust flow uniformity with different exhaust properties. Then, the double-layer guide fins structure achieving the highest flow uniformity is fabricated and experimentally investigated on a motorcycle at different engine speeds together with the single-layer guide fins structure to evaluate the thermal uniformity.

The double-layer guide fins structure obtains a better flow uniformity and thermal uniformity compared to the single-layer structure. Among surveyed structures, the double-layer structure with three closed V-shape guide fins achieves the highest flow uniformity. This structure also improves the thermal uniformity from 3.0 to 90.1% in comparison with the single-layer structure in experiments.

In this paper, the double-layer guide fins structures are derived from the improvement of the single-layer guide fins structure. The fluid flow uniformity index is applied as a measure for assessing the exhaust flow uniformity. The enhancement of thermal uniformity of the double-layer guide fins structure is expected to increase the longevity and performance of the motorcycle exhaust thermoelectric generator.

Possible application of mixed (thick/thin film) thermopiles to supply autonomous microsystems.

PdAg/AG or PdAg/TSG thermocouples were deposited onto a circular alumina or LTCC substrates. Their thermoelectric power, resistance as well as output electrical power were characterized vs temperature gradient and chosen parameters of thermopile fabrication process.

Semiconductors have high Seebeck coefficient, so investigated kind of thermopile has high output electrical power E_T. It achieves 50 mV per single junction for temperature difference of about 200°C.

The problem is very high resistivity of germanium alloys, even after burn‐in process. Therefore output electrical power P is seriously reduced. To improve thermocouples properties, optimization process is required. For example, thin film layers quality can be improved, semiconductive arms width can be increased or shorter arms can be used.

Application of mixed thick/thin film technology for fabrication of miniaturized thermoelectric generators.

This paper aims to present an experimental investigation and optimization of a low-temperature thermoelectric module to examine the influence of the main operating conditions.

In this work, a comparison was made by varying the various operating parameters such as heat source temperature, the flow rate of the cold fluid and the external load resistance. A Taguchi method was applied to optimize the parameters of the system. Three factors, including the external load resistance, mass flow rate of water (at the heat sink side) and heater temperature (at the heat source side) along with different levels were taken into account. Analysis of variance was used to determine the significance and percentage contribution of each parameter.

The experimental results show that the maximum power output 8.22W and the maximum conversion efficiency 1.11 per cent were obtained at the heater temperature of 240°C, the cold fluid mass flow rate of 0.017 kg/s, module temperature difference of 45°C and the load resistance of 5 O. It was observed that the optimum parameter levels for maximum power output determined as 5 O external load resistance, 0.17 kg/s mass flow rate of water and 240°C heater temperature (A1B3C3). It reflects that these parameters influence on the optimum conditions. The heater temperature is the most significant parameter on the power output of the thermoelectric module.

It is clear from the confirmation test that experimental values and the predicted values are in good agreement.

Introduction Depending on the way of teaching process organization the theory of electromagnetic field is considered either as a part of theoretical electrical engineering or as an individual subject. The electromagnetic field theory plays a double role in the education of electric engineers: comprehensive or specialized one. However, the electromagnetic field can be treated from the other point of view. It can be lectured with pointing out the calculation methods or phenomena occurring in “pure” electromagnetic field, and on the other hand, with reference to phenomena occurring in coupled fields, where those fields are affecting non‐living or having objects.

For using wireless sensors to monitor spindle units without opening the spindle shell to replace the battery, harvesting the waste heat from spindle units of machine tools for thermoelectric generation to drive wireless sensors is studied in this paper. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this paper, the thermal network method and the analogies between electrical and thermal domains are used in the simulation of power output performance of thermoelectric generation on a rotating spindle. After that, experiments are done to obtain the real power output performance of the generation and evaluate the feasibility to drive wireless sensors.

The paper provides that the output voltage of the thermoelectric generations was nearly linear with the rotating speed of the spindle, the output voltage was sensitive to the fixed position of the generations, and the thermoelectric system could drive the wireless sensor well most of the time during continuous operation of the spindle.

It is found that the thermoelectric generation could not provide enough power in the early start-up stage of the spindle rotation, so a high-efficiency power manage system, which will be studied in the future research, is needed to handle this problem.

The paper includes implications for the development of self-powered wireless sensors in the spindle unit for machine tool monitoring.

The paper develops a model of the power output performance of thermoelectric generation on a rotating spindle and tests the feasibility to drive wireless sensors with this power.

The purpose of this paper is to study using thermoelectric module to harvest the waste heat from spindle units of machine tools and drive wireless sensors stable, thermal structure design and optimization of the thermoelectric module.

In this paper, mesh-free-based method, rather than the standard finite element method, is used to analyze the thermal behavior of the thermoelectric modules with different structure. After that, experiments are done to obtain the real power output performance of those modules and evaluate the performance of driving a wireless sensor with those modules.

The paper provides that the difference in geometry structure can cause apparent change in surface temperature of heat-conducting plate, and the optimized thermoelectric module could increase the output voltage by about 7 per cent compared with the one without optimization.

It is found that the structure changing of the thermoelectric module is not the only way to increase the harvesting power, so a high efficiency power manage system is needed to be studied in the future.

The paper includes implications for the development of self-powered wireless sensors in the spindle unit for machine tool monitoring.

The paper develops models of thermoelectric modules with different structures on a rotating spindle, and tests the performance of driving wireless sensors with those thermoelectric modules.

The purpose of this paper is to report the system solution expressed in the form of a block diagram. In this paper, a multi-functional demonstrator of the interactive system designed to modelling, monitoring and validation of hybrid photovoltaic (PV) systems assisted by fuel cells and thermoelectric generators is presented. Technical parameters of demonstrator components such as: silicon PV modules, fuel cells, thermoelectric generators, gel batteries, control and monitoring systems are described.

The design shows the implementation of PV system modelling by four universal PV module simulators supported by two 65 W fuel cell and 12 modules, 6 W thermoelectric generators battery.

The paper provides practical proof that the combination of PV technology with both thermoelecric generators and fuel cells technologies shows promising results for the development of hybrid PV systems with increased effectiveness and efficiency.

The design idea can be developed for many applications gaining electricity from many distributed sources of wasted energy.

In practice, hybrid systems can be used to support the operation of classic PV systems, for example, working in various climatic conditions.

The proposed model demonstrates new technical solution leading to the enlargement of the PV systems application.

To protect cathodically a remote gas well casing or pipeline, it is often necessary to erect miles of high voltage power lines to the site. The high voltage a.c. power must then be reduced and rectified to supply a trickle of d.c. current to a groundbed. Practically, the protection thus supplied to a pipeline or well casing is well worth the effort. Economically, however, it is akin to laying miles of pipeline to supply gas for a stove in a lone dwelling.

The purpose of this paper was to develop the methodology of thick-film/low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) multilayer thermoelectric microgenerator fabrication including the procedure of silver-nickel thermocouples integration with LTCC.

To miniaturize the structures and to increase the output parameters (generated voltage, electrical power), the microgenerator was designed as multilayer systems. It allows to reduce size of the system and to increase the number of thermocouples integrated inside the structure. It also protects buried thermocouples against exposure to harmful external factors (e.g. moisture, oxidation and mechanical exposures). As a substrate, LTCC was used. For the thermocouples fabrication, thick-film pastes based on silver and nickel were chosen. Ag/Ni thermocouple has nearly three times higher Seebeck coefficient and 30 per cent lower electrical resistance than the combination of Ag/PdAg used in previous works of the author.

A multi-layer thick-film thermoelectric generator based on LTCC and Ag, Ni pastes was fabricated. Thirty Ag/Ni thermocouples were precisely screen-printed on few layers. Thermocouples’ arms are 15 mm long and about 150 μm wide. Interlayer connections (via-holes filled with conductive paste) provided the electrical contact between the layers. The biggest fabricated harvester consisted of 90 miniature thermocouples buried inside the LTCC.

The paper presents the results of research that provided to optimize the co-firing process of the LTCC/Ni set. In the result, the methodology of co-firing of silver-nickel thermocouples and LTCC ceramic was elaborated. Also, the methodology of fabrication of miniature thermoelectric energy harvesters was optimized.