TY - GEN
T1 - Simulation and Experimental Study on Thermal-Electrical Characteristics of Flexible Thermoelectric Generator
AU - Wang, Hejia
AU - Wang, Wei
AU - Shao, Shuaiyue
AU - Waktole, Dessalegn Abera
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 IEEE.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - With the rapid growth of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, flexible thermoelectric generators (f-TEGs) have attracted attention for their capability to harvest ambient thermal energy in wearable applications. In this study, a coupled thermo-fluid-electric model of an f-TEG is developed using COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0. The model integrates heat transfer, electric current transport, laminar flow, and thermoelectric effects to simulate the temperature distribution and output performance under varying heat source temperatures (30-60°C) and airflow conditions (0-1m/s). Experimental validation is performed to verify the model's accuracy. The results show that the f-TEG achieves a maximum output power of 10.56mW and a power density of 70.4 mW/cm2 at 60 °C and 1m/s wind speed. The use of an integrated "L-shaped"heat sink significantly enhances cooling at the cold-end, maintaining a stable leg temperature difference of 13.2 °C. This study provides both theoretical insight and experimental evidence to support the optimization and practical implementation of f-TEGs in energy-harvesting systems.
AB - With the rapid growth of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, flexible thermoelectric generators (f-TEGs) have attracted attention for their capability to harvest ambient thermal energy in wearable applications. In this study, a coupled thermo-fluid-electric model of an f-TEG is developed using COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0. The model integrates heat transfer, electric current transport, laminar flow, and thermoelectric effects to simulate the temperature distribution and output performance under varying heat source temperatures (30-60°C) and airflow conditions (0-1m/s). Experimental validation is performed to verify the model's accuracy. The results show that the f-TEG achieves a maximum output power of 10.56mW and a power density of 70.4 mW/cm2 at 60 °C and 1m/s wind speed. The use of an integrated "L-shaped"heat sink significantly enhances cooling at the cold-end, maintaining a stable leg temperature difference of 13.2 °C. This study provides both theoretical insight and experimental evidence to support the optimization and practical implementation of f-TEGs in energy-harvesting systems.
KW - COMSOL Multiphysics
KW - energy harvesting
KW - flexible thermoelectric generator
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105031097717
U2 - 10.1109/ICEEPS66790.2025.11239866
DO - 10.1109/ICEEPS66790.2025.11239866
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105031097717
T3 - 2025 4th International Conference on Energy and Electrical Power Systems, ICEEPS 2025
SP - 834
EP - 837
BT - 2025 4th International Conference on Energy and Electrical Power Systems, ICEEPS 2025
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 4th International Conference on Energy and Electrical Power Systems, ICEEPS 2025
Y2 - 17 July 2025 through 19 July 2025
ER -