Thermal modeling and parametric study of TEG power generation from the exhaust gas of boilers and cold oil tank

A new concept of power generation from thermoelectric generators TEGs using the hot exhaust gas of boilers and a cold oil tank is proposed. The suggested concept consists of a flow of exhaust gas of boilers and cold oil in a tank separated by a plate comprising several TEGs in series. The oil tank at the bottom of the system constitutes the cold convection condition for the TEG plate and the upper hot exhaust gas flow constitutes the hot convection condition. Accordingly, a temperature gradient is created across the thickness of the TEGs, which play the role of a separation plate, and converted to an electrical power. To justify the feasibility of this new concept, a suitable thermal modeling is developed and the associated parametric analysis is carried out. The parametric analysis reveals that powers up to 622 W can be generated with a system having a space heating load of 200 kW, an exhaust gas duct height of 0.05 m, and a TEG plate length of 1 m. The temperature difference across each TEG module decreases exponentially when the TEGs plate length increases and decreases exponentially when the exhaust gas duct height increases.