POWER DRIVER

An innovative environmentally friendly thermo-electric power generation system for automotive and marine applications that is powered by exhaust waste thermal energy to reduce fuel consumption

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Car CO2 emissions are to be limited to 120 g/km for all new passenger cars by 2012. If they are unable to achieve targets, then this may have a significant negative impact on manufacturers. Cars also produce emissions such as Nitrogen oxides, Hydrocarbons, Carbon monoxide and particulate matter which are subject to tight controls. For marine application, existing and forthcoming legislation is aiming at reducing the emissions of Carbon Monoxide, Hydrocarbons and particulate matter. In addition, concerns about rising fuel costs are driving the need for greater fuel efficiencies. As a result, a disruptive technology step is required that will enable the manufactures or cars and marine engines to meet the forthcoming legislative standards. One very attractive way of achieving this is to generate power from the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) waste heat. A prototype system created by BMW can generate up to 250W of electricity under normal driving conditions that can cut fuel consumption by up to 2%. However, the thermo-electric materials used for these applications to date have a number of clear limitations as they can be easily thermally damaged, are expensive and only achieve low efficiencies. The POWER DRIVER project aims to overcome the limitations relating to the production of an automotive and marine power generation system by integrating cutting-edge nano-structured silicide and functionally graded telluride thermo-electric materials into a heat exchanger assembly that will enable electrical power to be generated from the exhaust system without affecting back-pressure or engine balance. By doing this, the exhaust system created will offer greatly improved environmental performance due to improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions (CO2, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulates) at a cost that is affordable to the end-user. It is predicted that (even if the additional weight of the unit is considered) fuel efficiency will increase by at least 5%, leading to a corresponding 5% reduction in emissions.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Only a fraction of the energy released by burning fossil fuels is converted into mechanical or electricity energy with most of the energy released as heat and written off as a loss. Thermoelectric materials developed by an EU-funded project may provide the solution to this energy problem.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Between one half and two thirds of the fossil fuels burnt to generate energy are dissipated as heat into the atmosphere. While it has long been known that waste heat can be converted into energy the efficiency of early thermoelectric power generation systems was so low that it limited their applications.

Thermoelectric generators are essentially devices designed to convert heat directly into electricity using two materials and a temperature gradient. The greater the temperature difference between the 'hot' side and the 'cold' side the greater the power that can be produced.

Within the http://www.powerdriver.info/ (POWER DRIVER) project the focus was to design thermoelectric generators that could be mass produced for use in automotive waste heat recovery.

Specifically, two small thermoelectric generators have been designed: one based on silicide materials and another on telluride materials. Silicide and lead telluride (Pb/Te) based materials were synthesised and then processed using spark plasma sintering to produce thermo-electric materials with performance comparable to that found in the literature.

The thermoelectric devices have been integrated with control and power electronics. The most suitable solution was selected for mounting onto a hot air testrig where the exhaust of a 2litre gasoline car was simulated to establish its performance. This, in addition to estimated manufacturing and selling costs, was used to evaluate the new technology's commercial attractiveness.

Once completed the POWER DRIVER system will extract waste heat from the exhaust that will deliver direct current electrical power to the vehicle electrical system and thus reduce the alternator demand giving improved fuel efficiency by as much as 5 %.