Several methods are existing to recover energy from the wasteheat of the IC enginelike turbocharging, turbo-compounding etc. However, many disadvantages are noted for all these systemsas they mainly operate mechanically. Alternatively, thermoelectric generators (TEG) are highly reliable with no moving parts and environment friendly, hence gaining attention in recent times to directly covert low grade heat energy to electricity. Several developments are made in the area of extraction of energy from exhaust gas of eengines using TEGs. However, limited studies have been reported in the area of extraction of heat from engine coolant. The goal of the present work is to design and fabricate a compact heat exchanger (radiator) with TEGs to extract electricity from the hot engine coolant. Tests will be conducted in a test rig developed to compare the performance of various designs of radiators. A hot water bath will be used to circulate coolant to simulate a typical engine full load condition. Drop in temperature across the radiator, electricity generated by the TEG will be monitored during the tests. Analytical calculations will be compared with the experimental results. The investigation would lead to an optimum design for radiators with TEGs.
Key words: waste heat recovery, thermoelectric generator, engine coolant, heat exchanger, additional power