Thermal pulse energy harvesting
This paper presents a new method to enhance thermal energy harvesting with pulsed heat transfer. By creating a phase shift between the hot and cold sides of an energy harvester, periodically pulsed heat flow can allow an available temperature gradient to be concentrated over a heat engine during eac...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108375 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7045-1200 |
| _version_ | 1826191798738878464 |
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| author | McKay, Ian Wang, Evelyn |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering McKay, Ian Wang, Evelyn |
| author_sort | McKay, Ian |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This paper presents a new method to enhance thermal energy harvesting with pulsed heat transfer. By creating a phase shift between the hot and cold sides of an energy harvester, periodically pulsed heat flow can allow an available temperature gradient to be concentrated over a heat engine during each thermal pulse, rather than divided between the heat engine and a heat sink. This effect allows the energy harvester to work at maximum power and efficiency despite an otherwise unfavorable heat engine–heat sink thermal resistance ratio. In this paper, the analysis of a generalized energy harvester model and experiments with a mechanical thermal switch demonstrate how the pulse mode can improve the efficiency of a system with equal engine and heat sink thermal resistances by over 80%, although at reduced total power. At a 1:2 engine–sink resistance ratio, the improvement can simultaneously exceed 60% in power and 15% in efficiency. The thermal pulse strategy promises to enhance the efficiency and power density of a variety of systems that convert thermal energy, from waste heat harvesters to the radioisotope power systems on many spacecraft. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:01:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/108375 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:01:28Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1083752022-09-30T12:53:20Z Thermal pulse energy harvesting McKay, Ian Wang, Evelyn Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Wang, Evelyn N. McKay, Ian Wang, Evelyn This paper presents a new method to enhance thermal energy harvesting with pulsed heat transfer. By creating a phase shift between the hot and cold sides of an energy harvester, periodically pulsed heat flow can allow an available temperature gradient to be concentrated over a heat engine during each thermal pulse, rather than divided between the heat engine and a heat sink. This effect allows the energy harvester to work at maximum power and efficiency despite an otherwise unfavorable heat engine–heat sink thermal resistance ratio. In this paper, the analysis of a generalized energy harvester model and experiments with a mechanical thermal switch demonstrate how the pulse mode can improve the efficiency of a system with equal engine and heat sink thermal resistances by over 80%, although at reduced total power. At a 1:2 engine–sink resistance ratio, the improvement can simultaneously exceed 60% in power and 15% in efficiency. The thermal pulse strategy promises to enhance the efficiency and power density of a variety of systems that convert thermal energy, from waste heat harvesters to the radioisotope power systems on many spacecraft. 2017-04-24T13:47:18Z 2017-04-24T13:47:18Z 2013-06 2013-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0360-5442 0360-5442 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108375 McKay, Ian Salmon, and Evelyn N. Wang. “Thermal Pulse Energy Harvesting.” Energy 57 (2013): 632–640. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7045-1200 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2013.05.045 Energy Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Ian Salmon McKay |
| spellingShingle | McKay, Ian Wang, Evelyn Thermal pulse energy harvesting |
| title | Thermal pulse energy harvesting |
| title_full | Thermal pulse energy harvesting |
| title_fullStr | Thermal pulse energy harvesting |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thermal pulse energy harvesting |
| title_short | Thermal pulse energy harvesting |
| title_sort | thermal pulse energy harvesting |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108375 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7045-1200 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mckayian thermalpulseenergyharvesting AT wangevelyn thermalpulseenergyharvesting |