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A. Elefsiniotis, N. Kokorakis, Th. Becker, U. Schmid:
"Design and Material Aspects for Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting Devices in Aircrafts";
Vortrag: SPIE Microtechnologies 2013, Grenoble, France; 24.04.2013 - 26.04.2013; in: "Proceedings of SPIE", 8763 (2013), ISSN: 0277-786x.

Greener, more power efficient technologies as well as cost reduction are driving forces in energy efficient systems.
Energy autonomous wireless health monitoring systems can potentially reduce aircraft maintenance costs by requiring no
conventional power supply or supervision and by providing information of the health of an aircraft without human
interaction. Thermoelectric energy harvesting seems the best choice for aircraft related applications, since sufficient
energy can be generated to power up a wireless sensor node. The general concept is based on an artificially enhanced
temperature difference across a thermoelectric generator (TEG), which is created by attaching one side to the fuselage
and the other side to a thermal mass, which, in this case, is a phase change material. In detail, two different geometries
and three different container materials are evaluated. As input and output parameters, the temperature profiles as well as
the voltage of the TEGs are given. The output power and the total energy are determined by connecting a load resistor in
parallel. Furthermore, the power to weight ratio for each combination is provided according to theoretical considerations
and experimental tests done in a climate chamber mimicking a real flight profile.

Energy harvesting, thermoelectric generators, inner cylinder, hollow cylinder, thermal mass, phase change materials, autonomous wireless sensor nodes