Low-grade waste heat recovery is a promising source of renewable energy; however, there are practical challenges in the recovery process. Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are a viable solution, but their efficiency remains low, thereby limiting their implementation. The performance of TEGs can be enhanced by optimizing the module configuration; however, optimizing all the parameters experimentally using traditional experimental techniques will require several trials, and therefore, it is cumbersome and expensive. Here, we demonstrate the Taguchi method for optimizing TEG modules and demonstrate that full optimization can be achieved in just 25 experiments. The optimization has been achieved in four stages. In the first stage, a numerical model of thermoelectricity is developed and used in the second stage to optimize key geometric parameters of TEGs through the Taguchi method. In the third stage, the Taguchi method is used to optimize the geometric dimensions of the heat sink. Lastly, in the fourth stage, the effect of operating conditions on the performance of TEGs is investigated. The results reveal that the Taguchi method is capable of predicting the near-optimal configuration of TEGs.

中文翻译：

---

基于Taguchi方法的 Bi ₂ Te ₃基热电发电机的综合优化研究†

低品位废热回收是一种有前途的可再生能源。但是，恢复过程中存在实际挑战。热电发电机（TEG）是可行的解决方案，但其效率仍然很低，因此限制了其实现。通过优化模块配置可以增强TEG的性能。但是，使用传统的实验技术对所有参数进行实验优化需要进行多次试验，因此，这既麻烦又昂贵。在这里，我们演示了用于优化TEG模块的Taguchi方法，并演示了仅25个实验就可以实现完全优化。优化分四个阶段完成。在第一阶段 建立了热电数值模型，并将其用于第二阶段，通过Taguchi方法优化了TEG的关键几何参数。在第三阶段，使用Taguchi方法优化散热器的几何尺寸。最后，在第四阶段，研究了操作条件对TEG性能的影响。结果表明，Taguchi方法能够预测TEG的最佳配置。