A graph of the open differential temperature profile for this last
run is shown in Figure 9. One will not that after the high initial
temperature at the generator inlet, the remainder of the temperature
points are quite flat compared to the early profile.
CONCLUSIONS
A high powered generator to provide electric power for Diesel
engines is feasible. Hi-Z has designed and tested such a generator.
The design of this generator could be further refined, however, the
current design has now met the original design goal for the program
of producing 1 kW of electricity directly from the exhaust of a Diesel
engine.
The information presented here shows how important the details
of the heat transfer design can be. We believe that the need to pay
attention to such details is even more important in thermoelectric
systems because of the increased sensitivity of such systems to both
temperature difference across the elements and average temperature
of the elements.