Thermoelectric investigation of low-cost modular night-time electricity generation

One of the major pressing issues in today’s world is meeting the ever-increasing demand for sustainable and environment-friendly energy. To address this issue, renewable systems that capture energy through diverse energy scavenging techniques and devices are gaining interest. Among the aforementioned devices, thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are the temperature-dependent electricity-producing component that converts the temperature gradient (thermal input) directly into electrical energy without negatively affecting the environment. In the present study, a TEG was used to generate electricity using the radiative night-time sky cooling phenomenon. Both experimental and numerical approaches were applied to investigate the morphological characteristics of TEGs for night-time electricity generation. An in-house built night-time TEG model consisting of top and bottom plates, a block, and a TEG module sandwiched between them was used in this study. The effect of morphological characteristics, such as the type of material (Aluminium and Copper), the plate thicknesses, the number of thermocouples and the TEG leg length, on the open-circuit voltage was investigated. Experimental and numerical simulation results were found to be qualitatively consistent. Moreover, the reduction in plate thickness, the increase in the number of thermocouples, and the increase in TEG leg height increased the open-circuit voltage. The proposed model can act as a base model for the design and development of future models for night-time electricity generation.