Publication:
Thermoelectric generator for high temperature geothermal anomalies: experimental development and field operation

dc.contributor.authorAlegría Cía, Patricia
dc.contributor.authorCatalán Ros, Leyre
dc.contributor.authorAraiz Vega, Miguel
dc.contributor.authorCasi Satrústegui, Álvaro
dc.contributor.authorAstrain Ulibarrena, David
dc.contributor.departmentInstitute of Smart Cities - ISCen
dc.contributor.funderUniversidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoaes
dc.date.accessioned2023-04-20T14:58:44Z
dc.date.available2023-04-20T14:58:44Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.date.updated2023-04-20T14:50:01Z
dc.description.abstractIn the current climate and energy context, it is important to develop technologies that permit increase the use of renewable sources such as geothermal energy. Enhancing the use of this renewable source is particularly important in some places, due to its availability and the enormous dependence on fossil fuels, as is the case of the Canary Islands. This work proposes the use of thermoelectric generators with heat exchangers working by phase change to transform the heat from the shallow high temperature geothermal anomalies on the island of Lanzarote directly into electricity, since the use of conventional geothermal power plants would not be possible because they would damage the protected environment. To bring this proposal to reality, this work has succeeded in developing and field-installing a geothermal thermoelectric generator that operates without moving parts thanks to its phase-change heat exchangers. This robust generator do not require maintenance nor auxiliary consumption, and produces a minimal environmental impact, it is noiseless, and the use of water as working fluid makes it completely harmless. The developed device consists of a thermosyphon as hot side heat exchanger, thermoelectric modules and cold side heat exchangers also based in phase change. Tests were carried out in the laboratory at various heat source temperatures and varying the number of thermoelectric modules. It was determined that installing more modules decreases the efficiency per module (from 4.83% with 4 modules to 4.59% with 8 modules at a temperature difference between sources of 235 °C), but for the number of modules tested the total power increases, so the field installation was carried out with 8 modules. After the good results in the laboratory, it was satisfactorily installed at Timanfaya National Park (Lanzarote, Spain) in a borehole with gases at 465 °C. This generator presents a maximum output power of 36 W (4.5 W per module), and is generating 286.94 kWh per year, demonstrating the great potential of the developed thermoelectric generators to build a larger-scale renewable installation.en
dc.description.sponsorshipSpanish State Research Agency and FEDER-UE funds under the grants TED2021-129359B-I00 and PID2021-124014OB-I00. Open access funding provided by Universidad Pública de Navarra.en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationAlegría, P., Catalán, L., Araiz, M., Casi, Á., & Astrain, D. (2023). Thermoelectric generator for high temperature geothermal anomalies: Experimental development and field operation. Geothermics, 110, 102677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2023.102677en
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.geothermics.2023.102677
dc.identifier.issn0375-6505
dc.identifier.urihttps://academica-e.unavarra.es/handle/2454/45144
dc.language.isoengen
dc.publisherElsevieren
dc.relation.ispartofGeothermics 110 (2023) 102677en
dc.relation.projectIDinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI//TED2021-129359B-I00en
dc.relation.projectIDinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI//PID2021-124014OB-I00en
dc.relation.publisherversionhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2023.102677
dc.rights© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND licenen
dc.rights.accessRightsAcceso abierto / Sarbide irekiaes
dc.rights.accessRightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectGeothermal energyen
dc.subjectHeat exchangeren
dc.subjectPhase changeen
dc.subjectThermoelectric generatoren
dc.subjectThermoelectricityen
dc.titleThermoelectric generator for high temperature geothermal anomalies: experimental development and field operationen
dc.typeArtículo / Artikuluaes
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleen
dc.type.versionVersión publicada / Argitaratu den bertsioaes
dc.type.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionen
dspace.entity.typePublication
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