Research On Water Surface Thermoelectric Generator Device Of Solar Radiation

The power supply is the important issue in the water surface distributed sensor network. This paper innovatively proposes a method of the water surface low-power wireless sensor nodes self-powering from solar radiation and develops a thermoelectric generator device. This semiconductor thermoelectric generator(TEG) can be employed to convert heat energy directly into electrical power. Due to its small size, long life, no moving parts and high reliability, it is suitable to be applied to supply energy for the water surface wireless sensor nodes. The main work and achievements are given as follows:1. The heat transferring model of thermoelectric generator device is established. According to the basic theory of one-dimensional steady heat transfering, the heat transferring model of heat collector, heat radiator, heat insulation unit and TEG related to the influence of thermal resistance are built. On this basis, the heat transferring model of thermoelectric generator device is established and analyzed,which lays a theoretical foundation for device's structural design.2. A testing platform for TEG performance is designed and developed. Heating with the electrothermal plate and cooling with the mixture radiator of refrigeration devices and fans, the platform has compact structure and high measurement precision, and can meet the test requirements of performance of multiple TEGs in series or parallel. Series of tests of TEG performance are carried out on the platform, which lays the experimental foundation for the device's design and manufacture.3. An experimental prototype of generator device was designed and developed. After analyzing the wireless sensor node work condition and energy consumption demand, this paper has finished the structure design of heat collector, heat radiator, heat insulation unit and developed an experimental prototype with compact structure. In view of the TEG input level,a power management unit is designed which can process the low voltage with high efficiency and get a sufficient voltage output to power the application.4. The performance test of prototype has been carried out and the results show that, in the sunny day of winter, the prototype can collect 6.7mAh energy per day, which can meet the water surface low-power wireless sensor node operating power requirements.