Preliminary experiment for electricity generation using Peltier modules

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary study of electricity generation using Peltier modules. Ceramic thermoelectric cooling module (Peltier module), TEC1-12710 model, was used as electricity generation. The experimental box is a hardwood box and the inside is an aluminium box, which consists of hot and cold sides. The temperatures in a hot side and a cold side were controlled by using heater and dry ice, respectively. Electrical parameters of the Peltier module in a single module, series, parallel and mixed combination circuits were investigated at the temperature gradient of 10 degrees Celsius. The results showed that the voltage, current and power of a single module are 0.18V, 0.93A and 0.086W, respectively, at 0.1 ohms. When two and four modules are combined in series, the voltages of the modules are 2 and 4 times of a single module, respectively. In addition, 1.2 times of current is obtained from 4 parallel modules at the same condition.