Research and Development on Thermoelectric Generators

Thermoelectric generators are solid state devices which can directly convert thermal energy to electricity and have advantages of simple structure,reliability,no moving parts and being friendly to the environment.They are widely used in aerospace、military fields,and have broad prospects in application of recovery of industrial waste heat.This paper briefly provided the structure of thermoelectric generators and the work principles.Recent developments about thermoelectric generators were given and a comparison between bulk thermoelectric generators and micro thermoelectric generators was made.Problems of thermoelectric generators and the solutions were discussed.The prospects of thermoelectric devices were finally given.