Modélisation des performances thermoélectriques dans le cas d’échanges radiatifs et conductifs : application à la récupération de chaleur dégradée d’un four de verrerie

Details

Supervisors

Jacques, Pascal

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur civil électromécanicien

Abstract

enA large fraction of the energy used by industrial processes is lost in the form of waste heat. The purpose of this master's thesis is to study the possibility to harvest waste heat from a glass furnace using thermoelectricity, in order to improve its energetic efficiency. In this application, hot source and cold source temperatures, as well as incoming heat flux density are set. Two heat transfer modes were considered: conduction and radiation. Both transfer modes were modelled in the system including thermoelectric generators, and the impact of the Peltier effect on performance was studied. The model also takes temperature dependant material properties into account. Tests were conducted in order to characterise a thermoelectric module and thermal contact resistances were experimentally evaluated. Those experiments were also useful for attesting thermal models. A solution suiting the specifications was established using a combination of existing modules for both heat transfer modes. For conductive heat transfer, legs geometry was optimised and two thermoelectric materials were compared for the considered application based on raw materials price.