Pyroelectric energy conversion offers a novel, direct energy-conversion technology by transforming time-dependent temperature directly into electricity. It makes use of the pyroelectric effect to create a flow of charge to or from the surface of a material as a result of heating or cooling. However, existing pyroelectric energy converter can only operate at low frequency due to relatively low heat transfer rate between the pyroelectric materials and the working fluid subjected to oscillatory fluid flow between hot and cold sources. On the other hand, energy transfer by thermal radiation between two semi-infinite solids can be enhanced by several orders of magnitude as the gap separating them reduces to subwavelength size thanks to interference and tunneling of electromagnetic waves across the gap. This paper proposes a novel way to harvest nanoscale radiation heat transfer for direct pyroelectric energy conversion of waste heat into electricity. A new device is investigated numerically by accurately modeling nanoscale radiation heat transfer between the pyroelectric materials and hot and cold surfaces. Performance of the pyroelectric converter is predicted at various frequencies. The result shows that rapid energy transfer and higher operating frequency can be achieved to increase efficiency and power density.
Skip Nav Destination
ASME 2009 Heat Transfer Summer Conference collocated with the InterPACK09 and 3rd Energy Sustainability Conferences
July 19–23, 2009
San Francisco, California, USA
Conference Sponsors:
- Heat Transfer Division
ISBN:
978-0-7918-4357-4
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Harvesting Nanoscale Radiation Heat Transfer With Pyroelectric Materials Available to Purchase
Jin Fang,
Jin Fang
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Search for other works by this author on:
Hugo Frederich,
Hugo Frederich
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Search for other works by this author on:
Laurent Pilon
Laurent Pilon
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Search for other works by this author on:
Jin Fang
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Hugo Frederich
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Laurent Pilon
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Paper No:
HT2009-88570, pp. 371-380; 10 pages
Published Online:
March 12, 2010
Citation
Fang, J, Frederich, H, & Pilon, L. "Harvesting Nanoscale Radiation Heat Transfer With Pyroelectric Materials." Proceedings of the ASME 2009 Heat Transfer Summer Conference collocated with the InterPACK09 and 3rd Energy Sustainability Conferences. Volume 2: Theory and Fundamental Research; Aerospace Heat Transfer; Gas Turbine Heat Transfer; Computational Heat Transfer. San Francisco, California, USA. July 19–23, 2009. pp. 371-380. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/HT2009-88570
Download citation file:
9
Views
Related Proceedings Papers
Related Articles
Harvesting Nanoscale Thermal Radiation Using Pyroelectric Materials
J. Heat Transfer (September,2010)
On the Figure of Merit of Thermoelectric Generators
J. Energy Resour. Technol (March,2005)
Optimum Design and Performance Simulation of a Multi-Device Integrated System Based on a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell
J. Energy Resour. Technol (May,2022)
Related Chapters
Physiology of Human Power Generation
Design of Human Powered Vehicles
Introduction
Thermal Management of Microelectronic Equipment
Generation of Design Data – Finite Volume Analysis
Compact Heat Exchangers: Analysis, Design and Optimization using FEM and CFD Approach