Assessment of the energy recovery potential of a thermoelectric generator system for passenger vehicles under various drive cycles

The objective of the present study is to assess the potential of energy recovery from the exhaust gas of a passenger car engine under various driving drive cycles using a thermoelectric generator (TEG). This study investigates energy recovery using a steady-state engine experiment and a one-dimensional (1-D) transient cycle simulation. A1-D TEG system simulation model was developed for a TEG system consisting of 40 TEG modules. This simulation model was then validated based on steady-state experimental results. The comparison showed good agreement between the model and experimental results. Under medium engine load conditions, the discrepancy between the two results was 3%. Then, the validated TEG model was employed for drive cycle simulations to estimate the performance of the TEG system under the various driving conditions. Four regulatory test drive cycles were used in the simulations, namely, Federal test protocol 75, the Highway Fuel Economy test, the common Artemis Drive Cycle for rural roads, and the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles test cycle. The simulation results showed that the TEG system contributed to power increases ranging from 1.54 to 1.68%, depending on the drive cycles.