Cryogenics 88 (2017) 29–35

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Cryogenics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cryogenics

Research paper

Optimization of power generating thermoelectric modules utilizing LNG MARK

cold energy
Eun Soo Jeong
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hongik University, 94 Wausan-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul 04066, Korea

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: A theoretical investigation to optimize thermoelectric modules, which convert LNG cold energy into electrical
Thermoelectric power, is performed using a novel one-dimensional analytic model. In the model the optimum thermoelement
Power generation length and external load resistance, which maximize the energy conversion ratio, are determined by the heat
LNG supplied to the cold heat reservoir, the hot and cold side temperatures, the thermal and electrical contact re-
Cold energy
sistances and the properties of thermoelectric materials. The effects of the thermal and electrical contact re-
Optimization
sistances and the heat supplied to the cold heat reservoir on the maximum energy conversion ratio, the optimum
thermoelement length and the optimum external load resistance are shown.

1. Introduction the vaporizer.

Natural gas is the fastest growing primary energy source owing to its
advantages such as cleaner and efficient combustion, easier transport
and storage, convenient and clean usage, and flexible implementations
[1]. For long distance transportation and storage, natural gas is usually
cooled to 111 K at atmospheric pressure to convert it to liquefied nat-
ural gas (LNG) since the density of LNG is about 600 times that of
natural gas. LNG is then heated and converted into ordinary natural gas
before being supplied to the consumer [1–4]. Its latent heat of vapor-
ization and any sensible heat required to superheat the vapor are
termed ‘cold energy’ [5]. If the cold energy of LNG, which amounts to
840 MJ per ton, is released directly into the environment, it is a waste of
high quality energy source [4,5]. Many efforts to utilize LNG cold en-
ergy for processes such as power generation, air separation, CO2 cap-
ture, desalination, etc. have been made as reviewed in Kanbur et al. [1].
The main drawback of thermoelectric generators is the low con-
version efficiency, which has restricted their application to special si-
tuations where reliability and compactness are major considerations.
However, one exception is the thermoelectric recovery of waste heat or
cold since it is unnecessary to consider the cost of the thermal input
[5–7]. Sun et al. [5] proposed cryogenic thermoelectric generators to
recover LNG cold energy, which was generally wasted during the re-
gasification process of LNG. The maximum conversion efficiency and
the optimum electric current were investigated analytically and nu-
merically. Zhao et al. [4] proposed a new type of LNG vaporizer, into
which thermoelectric power generators were integrated, to convert
LNG cold energy into electrical power and to improve the efficiency of
A thermoelectric module is a building block for construction of
thermoelectric energy conversion systems [8]. One of main require-
ments in the design of a thermoelectric module is to determine the
optimum module geometry which meets the given application specifi-
cations [9]. The conversion efficiency and power output of a power
generating module may be estimated using the conventional module
theory, in which the thermal and electrical contact resistances are ne-
glected. The efficiency derived by the conventional module theory does
not depend on the module geometry [5,9]. Hence, it cannot be used to
optimize the thermoelement length. Rowe and Min [6,9] developed an
improved model for thermoelectric modules for power generation
which used the heat supplied from a hot heat source as the thermal
input. Both thermal and electrical contact resistances were taken into
account in the model, and it was shown that both power output and
conversion efficiency were strongly dependent on the thermoelement
length. The performance of thermoelectric generators utilizing LNG
cold energy as the thermal input was analyzed by Sun et al. [5]. Since
the contact resistances are neglected in their work, the efficiency de-
rived by them does not depend on the thermoelement length and the
power output increases as the thermoelement length decreases. How-
ever, it is not always the case for real thermoelectric generators because
of the unavoidable thermal and electrical contact resistances [5].
In this paper, a new approach to optimize power generating ther-
moelectric modules utilizing LNG cold energy is proposed. In the ap-
proach the heat flow at any axial location on a thermocouple is ex-
pressed by the temperature at that location, the electric current, the
heat flow and temperature at the cold end of a thermocouple and the

E-mail address: esjeong@hongik.ac.kr.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cryogenics.2017.10.005
Received 24 July 2017; Received in revised form 30 September 2017; Accepted 4 October 2017
Available online 05 October 2017
0011-2275/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
E.S. Jeong Cryogenics 88 (2017) 29–35

Nomenclature ρ electrical resistivity

ξ energy conversion ratio
A cross-sectional area
Ci coefficients defined by Eq. (30) Subscripts
I electric current
k thermal conductivity c cold side
K thermal conductance of a thermocouple crit critical
L length of thermoelements e electrical
P power h hot side
q heat flow i p or n
r contact resistance ideal neglecting thermal and electrical contact resistances
R electrical resistance of a thermocouple j interface between thermoelement and metal strip
Rload electrical resistance of an external load m mean
S Seebeck coefficient of a thermocouple max maximum
T temperature n N-type thermoelement
V electric voltage opt optimum
x coordinate defined in Fig. 1 p P-type thermoelement
Z figure of merit of a thermocouple t thermal

Greek letters

α Seebeck coefficient

properties of thermoelectric materials, but not by the distance from the
hot or cold end to that location [10]. In Section 2 the ideal model, in
which the thermal and electrical contact resistances are neglected, is
presented and the optimum thermoelement length, electric current and
external load resistance to maximize the energy conversion ratio (more
precisely, cold energy-to-electricity conversion ratio) are obtained
analytically. The more realistic model, in which the contact resistances
are taken into account, is described and the procedure to obtain the
optimum thermoelement length and other parameters is proposed in
Section 3.
2. Ideal model
Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a thermocouple, which is the
basic unit of a thermoelectric generator module [8]. It consists of a p-
type thermoelement, an n-type thermoelement and metal strips. The
thermoelements are connected electrically in series and thermally in
parallel by highly conducting metal strips [8,11]. It absorbs heat stea-
dily from a hot heat reservoir, rejects heat to a cold reservoir, and de-
livers useful electrical power to an external system [12].
The heat flows and electric currents flowing through the p-type and
n-type thermoelements can be written as follows [10,12,13]:
dT
qi = −ki Ai i ± αi ITi ,(i = p,n)
dx (1)
where the sign in front of αi is (−) for i = p and (+) for i = n , re-
spectively.
We assume that the electrical and thermal contact resistances be-
tween the thermoelements and the metal strips are negligible. We fur-
ther assume that the thermoelectric material properties (α,ρ,k ) of the
thermoelements are independent of temperature throughout the paper.
The values of the properties evaluated at the mean temperature will be
used. Power generating thermoelectric modules utilizing LNG cold en-
ergy will operate in the temperature range between about 111 K and
ambient temperature. Although the properties vary significantly in the
temperature range, it was shown by Sun et al. [5] that the analytical
method using the properties evaluated at the mean temperature pro-
vided good accuracy for optimum engineering design of LNG cold en-
ergy conversion generators. The efficiency and optimum current pre-
dicted by the analytical method (0.096 and 20.88 A) agreed very well
with those calculated by the numerical method (0.090 and 20.53 A), in
which temperature-dependent material properties were used.
The temperature distributions along the p-type and n-type thermo-
elements can be obtained from Eqs. (1) and (4).
qh metal strip
Th

Ai ⎛ dVi dT qp,h p-type qn,h

±I=− + αi i ⎞,(i = p,n)
ρi ⎝ dx dx ⎠ (2) x
qp qn
where α , ρ , k and A denote the Seebeck coefficient, electrical re-
sistivity, thermal conductivity and cross-sectional area, respectively. Tp Vp Tn Vn
The subscript i represents p-type ( p ) or n-type (n ) thermoelement. The L
Tp+dTp Vp+dVp Tn+dTn Vn+dVn
(±) signs in front of αi and I are (+) for i = p and (−) for i = n .
The one-dimensional energy balances for the infinitesimal lengths of qp+dqp qn+dqn
the p-type and n-type thermoelements shown in Fig. 1 are given as
follows: qp,c qn,c
dqi ± IdVi = 0,(i = p,n) (3) n-type
Tc
By combining Eqs. (2) and (3) we can obtain the following ex-
pression. I metal strip
Rload
ρ I2
dqi ∓ αi IdTi = i dx ,(i = p,n)
Ai (4) Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of an ideal single thermocouple power generating module.

30
E.S. Jeong Cryogenics 88 (2017) 29–35

Th−Tc ρ I2 the root of Eq. (14) be negative, has no physical meaning. The other
Ti (x ) = Th− x + i 2 (Lx −x 2),(i = p,n)
L 2ki Ai (5) solution is the optimum current which maximizes the energy conver-
sion ratio.
The temperature distribution of the p-type thermoelement is iden-
tical to that of the n-type thermoelement if the following relation is Sqc (1 + Th/ Tc )
(Iopt )ideal =
satisfied. 2(RK )opt 1 + ZTm ( 1 + ZTm + Th/ Tc ) (17)

ρp kn Here, Z and Tm are the figure of merit and mean temperature of the
⎛ Ap ⎞ =
⎜ ⎟
thermocouple, respectively.
⎝ An ⎠opt ρn kp (6)
S2
Eq. (6) is the optimum area ratio of the thermoelements required for Z=
(RK )opt (18)
the efficiency of a thermoelectric generator to be maximum when the
length of the p-type thermoelement is equal to that of the n-type Th + Tc
Tm =
thermoelement [5,12]. Hereafter, it will be assumed that the areas of 2 (19)
the thermoelements satisfy Eq. (6).
The maximum energy conversion ratio can be obtained from Eqs. (14),
Since Tp = Tn = T and dTp = dTn = dT , Eqs. (1) and (4) can be re-
(15) and (17).
written as follows:
Th−Tc 1 + ZTm −1
dT (ξmax )ideal =
q = qp + qn = −(kp Ap + kn An ) + (αp−αn ) IT Tc 1 + ZTm + Th/ Tc (20)
dx (7)

ρp Eq. (20) is the same as the maximum efficiency obtained from the
ρ
dq−(αp−αn ) IdT = ⎛⎜ + n ⎟⎞ I 2dx conventional module theory based on the one-dimensional heat balance
⎝ Ap A n⎠ (8) equations [5].
The following relation can be obtained from Eqs. (7) and (8). The optimum thermoelement length can be obtained from Eqs. (7),
(9) and (17).
(q−SIT ) d (q−SIT ) = −(RK )opt I 2dT (9)
2(kp Ap + kn An ) ⎛ Th/ Tc−1 ⎞
(Lopt )ideal = ⎜ ( 1 + ZTm −1)
⎟
where S (Iopt )ideal ⎝ Th/ Tc + 1 ⎠ (21)
S = αp−αn (10) We can obtain the optimum electrical resistance of the external load
2 from the relation S (Th−Tc ) = I (R + Rload ) .
⎡ ρp ρ ⎤ ⎛ ρp kp ⎞
(RK )opt = ⎢ ⎜⎛ + n ⎟⎞ (kp Ap + kn An ) ⎥ = ρn kn ⎜1 + 2(RK )opt ⎛ Th/ Tc−1 ⎞
⎝ Ap An ⎠ ρn kn ⎟ (Rload,opt )ideal = 1 + ZTm ( 1 + ZTm −1)
⎣ ⎦opt ⎝ ⎠ (11) ⎜ ⎟

S (Iopt )ideal ⎝ Th/ Tc + 1 ⎠ (22)

ρp L
ρ L
R= + n
Ap An (12) 3. Effects of thermal and electrical contact resistances

kp Ap kn An Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a realistic single thermocouple

K= +
L L (13) generator. It consists of a p-type thermoelement, an n-type thermoele-
L denotes the length of the thermoelements. Both the electrical re- ment, metal strips and ceramic plates. Thj and Tcj denote the temperature
sistance (R) and the thermal conductance (K ) of the thermocouple at the thermoelement-metal strip interface at the hot side and that at
depend on L , but the product of them (RK ) does not depend on L . the cold side, respectively. Due to the thermal contact resistances, Thj
(RK )opt is the value of RK when the area ratio of the thermoelements will be lower than Th and Tcj will be higher than Tc in steady state op-
satisfies Eq. (6). eration. The thermal contact resistance correlations at the hot and cold
Integrating Eq. (9) over the thermocouple gives following expres- sides can be written as
sion. qh = (Th−Thj )/ rth (23)
qh = SITh + (qc −SITc )2−2(RK )opt I 2 (Th−Tc ) (14)
qh
The sign in front of the root in Eq. (14) can be (+) or (−). The reason Th ceramic
why (+) is chosen here is shown in the Appendix A.
The thermocouple shown in Fig.1, which utilizes LNG cold energy to
plate
Thj
generate electricity, absorbs heat from the sea water or ambient air and p-type
delivers heat to LNG. Since the thermal input for power generation is qp,hj qn,hj
LNG cold energy, which absorbs heat from the thermocouple, the per-
formance can be measured by ‘the energy conversion ratio’ defined as metal
qh−qc I 2Rload
strip
ξ= =
qc qc (15)
qp,cj qn,cj
Eq. (15) shows that maximization of ξ is equivalent to maximization n-type
of qh when the heat supplied from the thermocouple to the cold heat Tcj
reservoir, qc , is given. Setting the derivative of qh in Eq. (14) with re-
spect to I to be zero gives the following equation. Tc
qc
[S 4Tc2 (Th + Tc )−2S 2 (RK )opt (Th2−2Tc2)−4(RK )opt
2
(Th−Tc )] I 2
I
−2qc Tc [S 3 (Th + Tc ) + 2S (RK )opt ] I + S 2qc2 (Th + Tc ) = 0 (16)
Rload
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of a realistic single thermocouple power generating module.
One solution of Eq. (16), which is negative or makes the value inside

31
E.S. Jeong Cryogenics 88 (2017) 29–35

qc = (Tcj−Tc )/ rtc (24) When the contact resistances are taken into account, the optimum
thermoelement length, optimum external load resistance and the
where rth and rtc are the thermal contact resistance at the hot side and
maximum power output can be obtained as follows.
that at the cold side, respectively.
The heat flowing through the hot end of the thermocouple, qhj , will (kp Ap + kn An )
Lopt = [(qcj−SIopt Tcj )
be larger than that flowing out of the ceramic plate at the hot side, qh , 2
(RK )opt Iopt
due to the Joule heating generated by the electrical contact resistance. 2
And the heat flowing into the ceramic plate at the cold side, qc , will be − (qcj−SIopt Tcj )2−2(RK )opt Iopt (Thj−Tcj ) ] (31)
larger than that flowing through the cold end of the thermocouple, qcj .
qhj and qcj can be written as follows. S (Thj−Tcj )
(Rload )opt = −(Ropt + reh + rec )
Iopt (32)
qhj = qp,hj + qn,hj = qh + I 2reh (25)
2
qcj = qp,cj + qn,cj = qc −I 2rec Pmax = SIopt (Thj−Tcj )−Iopt (Ropt + reh + rec ) (33)
(26)
Here, reh and rec are the electrical contact resistance at the hot side Here, Ropt is the electrical resistance of the thermocouple when the
and that at the cold side, respectively. area ratio and the length of the thermoelements satisfy Eqs. (6) and
When the thermal and electrical contact resistances are taken into (31), respectively.
account, Eq. (14) can be rewritten as
4. Results and discussion
qhj = SIThj + (qcj−SITcj )2−2(RK )opt I 2 (Thj−Tcj ) (27)
In this work Bi2Te3-Sb2Te3 alloy and Bi2Te3- Bi2Se3 alloy are used as
Substituting Eqs. (25) and (26) into Eq. (27) gives the following rela-
the p-type and n-type thermoelements, respectively. The thermoelectric
tion.
properties of the thermoelements are calculated using the correlations
qh = SIThj−I 2reh + (qc −I 2rec−SITcj )2−2(RK )opt I 2 (Thj−Tcj ) (28) given in Sun et al. [5] The hot side temperature of the thermocouple, Th ,
is 290 K and the cold side temperature, Tc , is 130 K. The cross-sectional
As mentioned before, maximization of the energy conversion ratio is area of the n-type thermoelement, An , is 2.0 × 10−6m2 . It is also assumed
equivalent to maximization of qh when the heat supplied to the cold that the thermal and electrical contact resistances at the hot side are
heat reservoir, qc , is given. We can obtain the following equation by equal to those at the cold side, respectively. In other words, rth = rtc and
setting the derivative of qh in Eq. (28) with respect to I to be zero. reh = rec .
C6 I 6 + C5 I 5 + C4 I 4 + C3 I 3 + C2 I 2 + C1 I + C0 = 0 (29) Fig. 3 shows the effects of the thermal and electrical contact re-
sistances on the maximum energy conversion ratio for qc = 1.0 W.
where When the contact resistances are very small, ξmax approaches the
C6 = 4rec2 (reh
2
−rec2 ) (30a) maximum conversion ratio obtained by the ideal model (Eq. (20)) or
the conventional module theory [5], in which the contact resistances
C5 = −4Srec [rec reh Thj + (3rec2 −2reh
2
) Tcj] (30b) are not taken into account. It can be seen that ξmax decreases as the
thermal and electrical contact resistances increase. Eq. (33) shows that
C4 = S 2 [rec2 Thj2 −8rec reh Tcj Thj + (4reh
2
−13rec2 ) Tcj2]−8(RK )opt (reh
2
−rec2 )(Thj−Tcj ) the maximum power generated by a thermoelectric generator decreases
2
−8(reh−rec2 ) rec qc (30c) as the actual temperature difference between the hot end and the cold
end of the thermoelements, Thj−Tcj , decreases. As the thermal contact
C3 = −2S 3 [2reh Thj Tcj2−rec Thj2 Tcj + 3rec Tcj3 ] + 4S (RK )opt (2reh Thj + 3rec Tcj )(Thj resistances increase, Thj−Tcj will decrease due to the temperature drops
across them, which lowers the power output and ξmax . The increase in
−Tcj ) + 8Sqc [rec reh Thj + (2rec2 −reh
2
) Tcj] (30d) the electric contact resistances results in the increase in Joule heating,
which also lowers the power output.
C2 = S 4Tcj2 (Thj2 −Tcj2 )−2S 2 (RK )opt (Thj2 −2Tcj2 )(Thj−Tcj )−4(RK )2opt (Thj−Tcj )2
The effect of the heat supplied from a thermocouple to the cold heat
−2S 2qc (rec Thj2 −5rec Tcj2−4reh Tcj Thj )−8(RK )opt rec qc (Thj−Tcj ) reservoir, i.e. the LNG cold energy consumption rate for a thermo-
2
+ 4(reh−rec2 ) qc2 couple, qc , on ξmax is shown in Fig. 4 when rtc = rth = 10 K/W. For given
(30e)
thermal and electrical contact resistances ξmax decreases with the in-
C1 = −2S 3qc Tcj (Thj2 −Tcj2 )−4S (RK )opt qc Tcj (Thj−Tcj )−4Sqc2 (reh Thj + rec Tcj ) crease in qc . It can be inferred from Eq. (20) that the maximum energy
(30f) 0.10
Maximum energy conversion ratio

C0 = S 2qc2 (Thj2 −Tcj2 ) (30g) ( )

max ideal
0.08
It can be easily shown that Eq. (29) reduces to Eq. (16) if the thermal r =r =0.1 K/W
tc th
and electrical contact resistances are negligible.
The solution of Eq. (29) which maximizes qh of Eq. (28) is the op- 0.06
timum current, Iopt . But, Thj and Tcj in the coefficients of Eq. (29) are also r =r =10 K/W
unknowns to be determined. The procedure to find Iopt , when qc , Th , Tc , tc th r =r =20 K/W
tc th
0.04
reh , rec , rth , rtc and thermoelectric material properties are given, is as
follows:
0.02
(1) Calculate Tcj from Eq. (24).
(2) Estimate the temperature at the thermoelement-metal strip inter-
0.00
face on the hot side, Thj . -5 -4 -3 -2
1.0x10 1.0x10 1.0x10 1.0x10
(3) Solve Eq. (29) and find Iopt which maximizes qh of Eq. (28).
Electrical contact resistance [ohm]
(4) Calculate qh from Eq. (23).
(5) Repeat steps (2) to (4) until qh calculated in step (4) is equal to the Fig. 3. Effects of thermal and electrical contact resistances on maximum energy con-
maximum value of qh obtained in step (3). version ratio.

32
E.S. Jeong Cryogenics 88 (2017) 29–35

0.10 the electrical contact resistances increase.

Maximum energy conversion ratio

( ) Fig. 7 shows the optimum electrical resistance of the external load

0.08
0.06
q =1.0 W
c
0.04
q =1.5 W
c
0.02
0.00
-5 -4
1.0x10 1.0x10 1.0x10
Electrical contact resistance [ohm]
Fig. 4. Effects of heat supplied to cold heat reservoir and electrical contact resistance on
maximum energy conversion ratio.
conversion ratio is proportional to the temperature difference for the
thermoelements and is inversely proportional to the cold end tem-
perature of the thermoelements. As qc increases, Thj gets lower and Tcj
gets higher due to the temperature drops across the thermal contact
resistances. Hence, the actual temperature difference for the thermo-
elements decreases and the cold end temperature rises, which will
lower the energy conversion ratio. Eqs. (17) and (21) show that the
optimum current increases and the optimum thermoelement length
decreases as qc increases. The decrease of the optimum thermoelement
length with the increase in qc will further reduce the actual temperature
difference for the thermoelements [5].
Fig. 5 shows the optimum electric currents for several values of qc
when rtc = rth = 10 K/W. The optimum current of the ideal model,
(Iopt )ideal , is proportional to qc as shown by Eq. (17). When the electrical
contact resistances, rec and reh , are less than about 0.0001 Ω, Iopt which is
obtained by taking the contact resistances into account, is very close to
(Iopt )ideal . But, Iopt decreases significantly as the electrical contact re-
sistances increase when rec and reh are larger than about 0.0001 Ω. Eq.
(26) shows that qcj decreases with the increase in the electrical contact
resistance at the cold side. It can be inferred from Eq. (17) that Iopt
decreases as the electrical contact resistances increase since the heat
flow rate at the cold end of the thermoelements, qcj , decreases. In other
words, the current should be decreased since the heat to be pumped
through the thermoelements by the Peltier effect decreases due to the
Joule heating at the cold side.
The effects of the cold energy consumption rate and the electrical
contact resistance on the optimum length of the thermoelements when
rtc = rth = 10 K/W are shown in Fig. 6. Both (Lopt )ideal and Lopt decrease
as qc increases for given temperature difference and contact resistances.
Eq. (21) shows that the optimum thermoelement length of the ideal
model, (Lopt )ideal , is inversely proportional to (Iopt )ideal for given tem-
perature span. Since (Iopt )ideal is proportional to qc as shown in Eq. (17),
(Lopt )ideal decreases as qc increases. Fig. 6 also shows that Lopt is smaller
than (Lopt )ideal for given qc and the difference between them increases as
max ideal
to obtain maximum energy conversion ratio. Since (Rload,opt )ideal is in-
q =0.5 W versely proportional to qc , which can be inferred from Eqs. (17) and
c
(22), (Rload,opt )ideal decreases as qc increases. When the electrical contact
resistances are less than about 0.001 Ω, Rload,opt is less than (Rload,opt )ideal
and the difference between them is very small. But, when the electrical
contact resistances are larger than about 0.001 Ω, Rload,opt increases
sharply and gets larger than (Rload,opt )ideal . Since Rload,opt is inversely
proportional to Iopt as in Eq. (32), Rload,opt should be increased to make
Iopt decline as shown in Fig. 5.
For thermoelectric power generators utilizing LNG cold energy to be
applied to LNG vaporizers, the cost of electricity should not be higher
-3 -2
1.0x10 than the price of electricity purchased by electric companies. In general,
the cost of producing electricity consists of the construction cost and
running cost [6,9]. For thermoelectric power generators utilizing LNG
cold energy, the running cost is negligible since they can use the LNG
cold energy, which is usually wasted during the regasification process
of LNG, as the thermal input. Then, the cost of electricity (in $/kWh)
would be the additional cost of constructing an LNG vaporizer equipped
with a thermoelectric generator, instead of a conventional vaporizer,
divided by the power output and the operation period of the generator
[6]. Thus, the development of efficient and inexpensive thermoelectric
modules which operate reliably at LNG temperature is required for the
cost of electricity to compare favorably with the price charged by
electric companies.
5. Conclusions
A theoretical investigation for the optimization of power generating
thermoelectric modules utilizing LNG cold energy as the thermal input
is performed using a novel one-dimensional analytic model. The pro-
cedure to find the optimum thermoelement length and the optimum
electrical resistance of the external load is proposed when the cold
energy consumption rate, the hot and cold side temperatures, the
thermal and electrical contact resistances are given. It is shown that the
maximum energy conversion ratio decreases as the contact resistances
increase and that it decreases as the heat supplied to the cold heat re-
servoir increases. The optimum thermoelement length decreases as the
heat supplied to the cold heat reservoir increases. It is also shown that
the optimum external load resistance decreases as the cold energy
consumption rate increases and that it increases significantly when the
electrical contact resistances are not small.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Hongik University Research Fund.
5.0
(I ) for q =1.5 W
opt ideal c
4.0
I for q =1.5 W
Optimum current [A]

(I ) for q =1.0 W opt c

opt ideal c

Appendix A 3.0

I for q =1.0 W
The heat flowing through the hot end of the thermocouple shown in Fig.1 can 2.0
be obtained by integrating
opt Eq.
c (9) over the thermocouple.

qh = SITh ± (qc −SITc )2−2(RK )opt I 2 (Th−Tc ) (A.1)

I for q =0.5 W
opt c
1.0
In the conventional module theory, the heat flowing through the hot end and that flowing through the cold end of a thermocouple are expressed
(I ) for q =0.5 W
as follows [14,15]. opt ideal c

0.0
1 -5 -4 -3 -2
qh = SITh + K (Th−Tc )− I 2R 1.0x10 1.0x10 1.0x10 1.0x10
2 (A.2)
Electrical contact resistance [ohm]
1 2
qc = SITc + K (Th−Tc ) + I R Fig. 5. Effects of heat supplied to cold heat reservoir and electrical contact resistance on
2 (A.3)
optimum electric current.

33
E.S. Jeong Cryogenics 88 (2017) 29–35

0.003
Optimum thermoelement length [m]

(L ) for q =0.5 W L for q =0.5 W

opt ideal c opt c

0.002
(L ) for q =1.0 W
opt ideal c
L for q =1.0 W
opt c

0.001

(L ) for q =1.5 W
opt ideal c
L for q =1.5 W
opt c
0.000
-5 -4 -3 -2
1.0x10 1.0x10 1.0x10 1.0x10
Electrical contact resistance [ohm]
Fig. 6. Effects of heat supplied to cold heat reservoir and electrical contact resistance on
optimum thermoelement length.

0.04
Optimum external load [ohm]

0.03
(R ) for q =0.5 W
load,opt ideal c
R for q =0.5 W
load,opt c
0.02

R for q =1.0 W
(R ) for q =1.0 W load,opt c
load,opt ideal c
0.01

R for q =1.5 W (R ) for q =1.5 W

load,opt c load,opt ideal c
0.00
-5 -4 -3 -2
1.0x10 1.0x10 1.0x10 1.0x10
Electrical contact resistance [ohm]
Fig. 7. Effects of heat supplied to cold heat reservoir and electrical contact resistance on
optimum external load resistance.

Substituting Eq. (A.3) into Eq. (A.1) gives the following expression.
1
qh = SITh ± |K (Th−Tc )− I 2R|
2 (A.4)
Comparing Eq. (A.4) with Eq. (A.2) shows that the sign in front of the root on the right hand side in Eq. (A.1) should be (+) when I ⩽ Icrit and
should be (−) when I > Icrit , where Icrit is defined as

2K (Th−Tc )
Icrit =
R (A.5)
The optimum current for the maximum energy conversion ratio of a LNG cold energy conversion generator, which can be obtained from the
conventional module theory, is as follows [5].
S (Th−Tc )/ R
Iopt =
1 + ZTm + 1 (A.6)
From Eqs. (A.5), (A.6) and the definition of Tm , it can be shown that Iopt is less than Icrit as below.
Z Z
Iopt 2
(Th−Tc ) 2
(Th−Tc )
= = <1
Icrit 1 + ZTm + 1 1+
Z
(Th + Tc ) + 1
2 (A.7)
One of the purposes of this work is to find the optimum electric current for the maximum energy conversion ratio. Since Iopt is always less than
Icrit , the sign in front of the root in Eq. (A.1) should be (+).

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