Membrane-Supported Thermoelectric Generator

Solid-state thermoelectric (TE) devices provide many advantages in refrigeration (TE coolers) and power generation (TE generators). These highly reliable devices have no moving parts, operate over a large range of temperatures, and do not emit toxic or environmentally-unfriendly gases. These devices can be easily integrated into thermal energy conversion systems that meet NASA needs for innovative space power generation on orbiting platforms, extraterrestrial surfaces, and space transportation vehicles. To date, the adoption of TE generator (TEG) devices in energy scavenging/power recovery applications has been hampered by a lack of TE material compositions, no high throughput production methods for large-area conformable TEG devices, and high cost-per-unit area for tiling rigid plate TE devices. Production of large-area sheets of high-ZT TEG devices that conform to space vehicle and other relevant thermal gradient surfaces would be highly beneficial. This effort develops membrane-supported thermoelectric device manufacturing technology with in-situ sintering of high-ZT thermoelectric powders dispersed across a fiberglass sheet matrix serving as a mechanical support. The method provides intrinsic densification of the TE powders between the two faces of the fiberglass sheet and allows for large-scale conformable thermoelectric sheets to be produced with high performance at low cost.