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Publications in Scientific Journals:

M. Kiziroglou, A. Elefsiniotis, N. Kokorakis, S. Wright, T. Toh, P. Mitcheson, U. Schmid, Th. Becker, E. Yeatman:
"Scaling and super‑cooling in heat storage harvesting devices";
Microsystem Technologies - Micro- and Nanosystems - Information Storage and Processing Systems, 22 (2016), 1905 - 1914.



English abstract:
Aircraft sensors are typically cable powered,
imposing a significant weight overhead. The exploitation
of temperature variations during flight by a phase change
material (PCM) based heat storage thermoelectric energy
harvester, as an alternative power source in aeronautical
applications, has recently been flight tested. In this
work, the applicability of this technology to use cases with
smaller and larger size specifications is studied by fabrication,
testing and analysis of a scaled-down and a scaled-up
prototype. Output energy of 4.1 J/g of PCM from a typical
flight cycle is demonstrated for the scaled-down device,
and 2.3 J/g of PCM for the scaled-up device. The higher
energy density of the scaled down prototypes is attributed
to the reduction in temperature inhomogeneity inside the
PCM. The impact of super-cooling on performance is analyzed
by employing a simulation model extended to include
super-cooling effects. It is found that super-cooling may be
beneficial for scaling down, in applications with slow temperature
fluctuations.

German abstract:
Aircraft sensors are typically cable powered,
imposing a significant weight overhead. The exploitation
of temperature variations during flight by a phase change
material (PCM) based heat storage thermoelectric energy
harvester, as an alternative power source in aeronautical
applications, has recently been flight tested. In this
work, the applicability of this technology to use cases with
smaller and larger size specifications is studied by fabrication,
testing and analysis of a scaled-down and a scaled-up
prototype. Output energy of 4.1 J/g of PCM from a typical
flight cycle is demonstrated for the scaled-down device,
and 2.3 J/g of PCM for the scaled-up device. The higher
energy density of the scaled down prototypes is attributed
to the reduction in temperature inhomogeneity inside the
PCM. The impact of super-cooling on performance is analyzed
by employing a simulation model extended to include
super-cooling effects. It is found that super-cooling may be
beneficial for scaling down, in applications with slow temperature
fluctuations.


"Official" electronic version of the publication (accessed through its Digital Object Identifier - DOI)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00542-016-2889-0


Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.