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*STTR
Project: High-Efficiency, Cost-Effective Thermoelectric Materials/Devices for
Industrial Process Refrigeration and Waste Heat Recovery—Aegis Technology Inc., 3300 A.
Westminster Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92703; 714-265-1238; www.aegistg.com
Dr. Timothy Line, Principal Investigator,
timlin@aegistech.net
Mr. Bob Liu, Business Officical,
bobliu@aegistech.net
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-07ER86296
Amount: $750,000
Research Institution
SUNY
The
development of high-efficiency thermoelectric (TE) devices represents an
opportunity to cost-effectively exploit industrial waste heat and provide
industrial process refrigeration. The
key to developing these devices is to first develop a TE material with a high
figure of merit, ZT. Therefore, this
project will (1) develop a low-cost scalable approach for producing a
novel class of high-ZT thermoelectric nanocomposites;
and (2) build and characterize high-efficiency, cost-effective TE devices that
can be applied to industrial process refrigeration and waste heat
recovery. Phase I identified the
underlying technical issues that govern the fabrication and performance of the
TE nanocomposite, and demonstrated a cost-effective
approach to produce the material in bulk.
Phase II will design, build and test a TE
generator utilizing the nanocomposite, in order to
demonstrate the benefits at a system level.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by
the awardee: Bulk TE nanocomposites should
enable the production of high-efficiency, compact TE devices that can be used
for space cooling and refrigeration for residential, commercial, and industrial
applications. Another application area
is in industrial waste heat recovery, in order to harvest the vast amount of
waste heat embodied in manufacturing processes:
the high-efficiency ZT devices could recycle the waste heat, thereby increasing
energy efficiency and simultaneously reducing unfavorable pollutant and vapor
emission.