Salman B. Inayat and Muhammad M. Hussain
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia
Keywords: Thermoelectrics,solar, nano-manufacturing, hot pressing, green building
Thermoelectric generators are pragmatic energy harvesters utilizing wasted or unused heat. So far the temperature difference between solar heated outside and cold inside of a building has not been employed for thermoelectric generation, because of the blocking interfaces which prevent thermoelectric material deposited on one side of the glass to access the temperature on the opposite side. We have integrated nano-manufactured thermoelectric pillars, hot pressed from ball milled nanopowders of Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 and Bi1.75Te3.25, into window glasses to transform it into thermoelectric generators utilizing the temperature gradient between outdoor and indoor of a building. With minimum interconnect resistance, a 100 ft2 thermoelectric generator integrated window glass promises appreciable amounts of power like 190 watts to run significant energy efficient lighting loads. This seamless insertion of thermoelectric pillars through drilled holes inside the glass also overcomes the attainable thickness limitation encountered by conventional deposition techniques. It is to be noted that the demonstrated approach is not to replace any existing power source rather to complement that. Also, no air conditioning is required to be turned on to keep the system running. It works naturally as long as appreciable amount of temperature difference exists between two environments, even during off sunshine hours.