Experimental study on improving heat transfer of thermoelectric generator for human body heat harvesting

• Main Author: Tan Kuan You
• Format: text::Final Year Project
• Language: English US
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Thermoelectric generators; Waste heat

This thesis reports the experimental study on improving heat transfer of thermoelectric generator (TEG) for human body heat harvesting. The objective of this thesis is to study the use of thermoelectric generator in harvesting human body heat from three different body parts (wrist, upper arm, forehead) during three modes of activities (resting, walking, running). The effect of heat sink on the performance of TEG in harvesting body heat is investigated. The effect of thermal contact between thermoelectric generator and the heat source from human body is studied through the tightening of TEG attachment onto the skin. Several sets of experiments are conducted on different individuals of different genders by considering parameters such as surrounding temperature, skin temperature, output voltage and current. The values of power generated from the TEG are calculated and analysed. The results of experiments indicate the power generated from TEG generally increases with the level of physical activities especially during running mode, with forehead having the highest temperature resulting in highest power harvested among the tested body locations for both genders.