Scaling and super-cooling in heat storage harvesting devices
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Aircraft sensors are typically cable powered, imposing a significant weight overhead. The exploitation of temperature variations during flight by a phase change material (PCM) based heat storage thermoelectric energy harvester, as an alternative power source in aeronautical applications, has recently been flight tested. In this work, the applicability of this technology to use cases with smaller and larger size specifications is studied by fabrication, testing and analysis of a scaled-down and a scaled-up prototype. Output energy of 4.1 J/g of PCM from a typical flight cycle is demonstrated for the scaled-down device, and 2.3 J/g of PCM for the scaled-up device. The higher energy density of the scaled down prototypes is attributed to the reduction in temperature inhomogeneity inside the PCM. The impact of super-cooling on performance is analyzed by employing a simulation model extended to include super-cooling effects. It is found that super-cooling may be beneficial for scaling down, in applications with slow temperature fluctuations.
Date Issued
2016-03-05
Date Acceptance
2016-02-22
Citation
Microsystem Technologies, 2016, 22 (7), pp.1905-1914
ISSN
0946-7076
Publisher
Springer Verlag
Start Page
1905
End Page
1914
Journal / Book Title
Microsystem Technologies
Volume
22
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© Springer Verlag 2016. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00542-016-2889-0.
Subjects
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
1005 Communications Technologies
1007 Nanotechnology
Publication Status
Published