상변화물질과 열전소자를 사용한 건물외피 폐열회수 패시브 발전장치 성능 평가

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to design a block that harvests solar energy accumulated on outer building walls. A thermoelectric module and a phase-change material (PCM) were integrated in a concrete block. The thermoelectric module can generate electricity from the temperature difference between two sides of the module through Seebeck effect. Although the energy conversion rate is significantly small, the thermoelectric generator (TEG) is beneficial in the sense that it can harvest energy from heat otherwise wasted. To improve energy conversion, cooling of the cold side of the TEG is necessary. In this research, a PCM was employed as a cooling component. By using a paraffin-based n-Heptadecane material, the cold side of the TEG can be controlled to stay at the temperature of melting point of the PCM. The PCM requires no energy to perform as a cooling component, and when the sun sets, the PCM solidifies again because the ambient temperature drops at night. When this happens, the hot side, which acts as a heat-absorbing panel with daylight, acts as a heat dissipating panel. Both TEG and PCM are integrated and designed to be in a building block. Typical dimensions of 190×90×75 ㎣ were applied. Simulations were performed with an engineering equation solver. Component models of the TEG and PCM were designed. The results showed 1 V and 0.2 W of energy harvested from a single block per day. This TEG-PCM block can be stacked to become a wall forming a series in order to generate more energy.