Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

More than half of all the energy generated by mankind, is transformed into waste heat. Considering the continuously increasing energy demands of our society, recovering part of the waste heat - normally lost - would be extremely beneficial, both for our society and for the environment. As proven by first field tests in the U.S., thermoelectric materials are capable of recovering energy from the waste heat of the exhaust gases of automotives More than 40% of the energy created by the gas combustion in automotives go directly into exhaust heat, which may be used to create the temperature gradient for the TE generator. The TE generator, in turn, can then supply energy towards the accessories of the automotive, or directly replace the alternator, or propel an electrical engine in a hybrid. Hence, an enormous potential for fuel economy improvements is evident. Current materials would only be capable to recover about 5% of the waste heat energy, therefore this technology has not yet found widespread applications in automotives. This project is concerned with developing advanced TE materials that will exhibit better thermoelectric efficiency. Higher efficiency of the TE conversion will ultimately lead to enhanced fuel economy improvements, making the additional costs of installing TE generators into automotives worthwhile. Developing enhanced materials with e.g. a ZT value of 2 would improve the efficiency to 14%, thus yielding substantial fuel economy improvements of more than 10%.