Design and analysis of a thermoelectric generator for a heavy-duty vehicle in ‎real road test

Heavy duty vehicles have a great share on fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gases in the world, while they waste two third of chemical energy of fuel. On the other hand, simplicity and long life of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are considered more and more to convert thermal energy to electrical one. In this paper a TEG designed in the exhaust system of Renault Midlum 195 Dxi Engine. The temperature and mass flowrate of exhaust gas was measured in a real road test. The height and location of vehicle was recorded by GPS system. The TEG based on two high temperature scoteruidit and low temperature bismuth modules was designed. After designing in SOLIDWORKS, simulation was done using FLUENT. Based on the simulation outputs the power and efficiency of TEG was calculated through thermoelectric fundamental equations. The output power is 1511W, 375W and 466W, in uphill, flat and downhill road respectively.