Large-Area Thermoelectric Generators

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Program:
IDEAS
Award:
$499,834
Location:
Palo Alto, California
Status:
ALUMNI
Project Term:
12/17/2015 - 03/31/2017

Technology Description:

Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) is developing high performance, low-cost thermoelectric devices on flexible substrates that will enable the capture of low-temperature waste heat (100°C to 250°C), an abundant and difficult-to-harness energy resource. PARC's innovative manufacturing process is based on their co-extrusion printing technology which can simultaneously deposit different materials at high speed thereby facilitating fast, large-area production at low cost. Flexible thermoelectric devices will broaden their utility to applications on non-flat surfaces such as wrapping heat transfer piping. Additionally, since thermoelectrics can be applied directly onto most waste heat sources, expensive heat exchangers to transfer heat to a generator are unnecessary. PARC’s existing co-extrusion printing technology, paired with partner Novus Energy’s nanomaterials, is uniquely suited for the development of Large Area Thermoelectric Generator (LATEG) technology on flexible substrates, as it allows for the optimization of microscale device structures while maintaining the nanoscale properties of the materials through a process that is scalable to low cost, large-area manufacturing. If successful, development and deployment of efficient flexible thermoelectric technologies would enable recapture of a large amount of wasted energy in the U.S. industrial sector.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Joseph King
Project Contact:
Dr. Ranjeet Rao
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
Ranjeet.Rao@parc.com

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