Power enhancement of micro thermoelectric generators by micro fluidic heat transfer packaging

This paper reports the design, fabrication and proof of concept of a multilayer fluidic packaging system enabling an increase in the output power performance of micro thermoelectric generators (μTEGs). The complete integration of the fluidic heat transfer system (HTS) with a μTEG is successfully demonstrated. The fabricated μHTS prototypes were tested with respect to their heat transfer resistance and consumed pumping power. A heat transfer resistance of 0.48cm2K/W was achieved with a small pumping power of 3.7mW/cm2. This results in a potential μTEG power output enhancement of 38 times at a heat source temperature of 320K, cold side temperature of 300K and a thermoelectric figure of merit (Z) of 1.1×10-3 K-1.