Electrical power generation from a knitted wire panel using the thermoelectric effect

AbstractThermoelectric devices have been investigated widely in order to transform a low temperature heat source to the electrical power. In this report, we proposed a knitted wire panel as a thermoelectric power generator. A thermocouple on the knitted wire panel was formed by knitting an alumel wire and a chromel wire (ϕ 0.3 mm). The knitted wire panel was set at a measurement system using a peltier cooling device, and electrical characteristics were measured. Additionally, we discuss here the characteristics of electrical power generation from the panel using an equivalent circuit model. As a result, electrical power from the panel increased linearly with increasing a number of thermocouple formed by wire knitting process on the panel. It ia considered that thermocouples can be formed easily by wires knitting process. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 140(1): 16–21, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.10028